In Another Life
by Daisuke Kazamatsuri
Summary: A collection of the first chapters of stories currently in progress. Please review the ones you like! The Journey of a Thousand Lives begins with a Single Step...or Several.
1. Inky Feathers and Bleached Wings

**Daisuke: Hello! I know I haven't updated _anything_ in forever, but I have a reason. That reason being, I'm so full of stories I can't really settle on just one. This is the first of many first chapters of stories that have popped in and out of my head over the course of the last two years. The reason for this is I need feedback from my faithful readers and those of the DC community (most of these are KaiShin, by the way) in order to figure out which stories to focus on first. I'll be trying my best to update every week, or every other week at worst, until all of my stories have been showcased. **

**That said, when the story that has been reviewed most is finished, I will publish the full thing (bits at a time, I'm not _that_ nice) and take down the chapter corresponding to it. If the first one is this chapter, I'll leave behind the note and a short note of which story the chapter corresponded to.**

**This chapter is a story that was originally inspired by "Raven, Tantei-kun?" and it's attached artwork. This version was not the first, but it has been scrapped until I can figure out which version is better. The title is "Inky Feathers and Bleached Wings".**

**Read, Review, and Enjoy!**

* * *

><p>Conan sniffed at the air, searching for the long-memorized scent of the thief he had taken to chasing around in the night. He knew that if he tried to find the man after the heist, no matter how fast he worked, he wouldn't be able to track him, but that didn't mean that the scent during the heist was different at any time. It was annoying sometimes, having the power to track the man in such a way but having it cut off because of those blasted disguises and smoke bombs - they always covered the man's scent too well, the smoke clinging only to his white suit and the disguises covering the faint traces left over too completely - but the smoke itself was still always a good indication of the man's direction in the moonlit nights.<p>

Conan knew that it was a bit unfair, but he did do his best not to use his sense of smell during the heists unless absolutely necessary. He would hate to have to explain things afterwords without any evidence to a real train of thought, so the shrunken teen tended to stick to his deductive skills, powers or no. He knew all of this, but this night just felt different somehow, like he wouldn't ever get anywhere unless he followed his nose tonight. Physical age notwithstanding, he was going to turn eighteen soon, and his powers were supposed to have completely matured by then.

So here he was, dashing through the cold early May night, getting a stitch in his side and freezing his lungs with every heated, labored breath he took, chasing after the moonlit thief like a bat out of hell. ...Okay, so maybe a bat wasn't quite the right word, but you get the picture. At any rate, he'd finally managed to make it to the roof where the white-clad thief was standing, bursting into sight behind the man as he held up his latest pilferage to the light of the full moon.

The shrunken teen would have shouted out to the thief if one, it were necessary, or two, he had the breath to do so, but said thief got to it first. "Well, well, Tantei-kun, it seems you're a little faster than usual. Maybe I should have left a few more traps along the way? Or would it not have mattered?" Kid had yet to lower his arm or turn towards him, but since the boy's footsteps were so quick and light Conan had no doubt in his mind that the kaitou knew he was the one coming the minute he started running up the stairs.

"Not tonight, it wouldn't have. I'm afraid you're a little lower on luck tonight than other nights, though I can't tell you why. You'll find out soon enough though." There were a few faint clicks and a quiet humming behind the magician, just enough warning to get the man to lower his arm and replace the gem - yet another failure, still not what he was looking for - with his card gun. Still not turning, Kid listened to the click-puff of the soccer belt activating and spitting out one of its soccer-ball-balloons and the subsequent slam of the small detective's foot against it. As soon as the whooshing sound reached Kid's ears, he dodged completely to one side and turned, quickly aiming his gun at the boy's feet.

Conan flinched slightly, but didn't move as the card embedded itself into the ground before him and his soccer ball flew for a while longer in the air before deflating and drifting toward the ground. The two stood, staring at each other for a long time before Kid's smirk grew a little wider and he took a slow half-step back. "Well, it was nice chatting with you, Tantei-kun. Whatever it is that makes you think luck is not on my side will just have to clear its own way out, won't it? Ja ne!" Conan only stared in slight boredom as the thief leapt backwards off the building before flipping and activating his hang-glider.

"If only you knew...just two more days and I'll have the power to find you. Just two more days..."

* * *

><p>Conan yawned as he made his way down the stairs, walking in an exhausted manner into the kitchen where Ran was making breakfast. "Ohayo, Ran-neechan."<p>

"Ohayo, Conan-kun. You look tired, how late were you up last night?" Ran brought over the now completed rolled omelet and shoved some onto his plate while he picked up the chopsticks.

"Not too late, Ran-neechan. Just a little bit of restless sleeping last night." He slowly picked up a piece of the sliced-up omelet and placed it in his mouth, chewing while Ran made herself a plate across the table from him.

"You're not having nightmares again, are you? You seem a little pale."

"No, just a little tired. It'll go away when I'm a bit more awake." Conan then dug further into his breakfast to stave off Ran's questions. Satisfied with the fact that he was eating, anyway, Ran backed off and simply got up to put the dishes away. Since it was Golden Week, there wasn't any school anyway, so if Conan was a bit tired now it wouldn't affect anything besides his energy level for the day. Which reminded her, Shinichi's birthday was tomorrow, and she had to get her gift to Agasa to hand off to him soon. Not to mention Conan's birthday being the same day.

Conan was oblivious to the planning going on inside his childhood friend's mind however, so he was a bit startled when, that afternoon, he'd been asked a question that seemed almost entirely out of the blue. "Conan-kun, what would you like for your birthday? It's tomorrow, isn't it?"

Stunned for a moment, the boy stared at his current caretaker over his latest mystery novel. "Ano...daijoubu, Ran-neechan! You don't have to get me anything! There's not really anything I want anyway!" It hurt, still, to lie to her, but however much he wanted for his birthday she couldn't give any of it. He resented every moment trapped in this kami-forsaken body for it, too. With that said, Conan went back to his book for a while before gathering a bit of his stuff together and heading to the door. The Shounen Tantei Dan had a play date at Agasa's that day and he'd asked if he could sleep over that night.

Ran waved the boy off with a bit of worry behind her smile. Somehow, it almost felt like that day at Tropical Land, but...it also felt like it had been a long time coming, where the day Shinichi disappeared it had been so sudden. Letting the feeling get shoved into the back of her head, Ran began to prepare for dinner, starting with getting her drunk (again) father off of his desk long enough for him to realize he was about to miss his latest Yoko Okino showing. Oh well, at least it meant he stayed awake.

As it was Golden Week, the streets were packed, cars and pedestrians covering nearly every inch of pavement in the city - and the cars were in a dead stop, especially in the direction of the airport - children were dragging parents and siblings around by the hands. Only the extremely loud and startling noise of Conan's skateboard allowed the shrunken detective to get a clear path in his direction of travel, and even then he couldn't do more than lightly tap the turbo button to start the engine noise to clear the way without bowling anyone over. This was how it went for the near hour and a half that it took him to get to the professor's house, at least until he finally made it to Beika street, where the residents were few and far between, and thus left Conan with a clean stretch of sidewalk for the block left before his destination.

Kicking up his skateboard, he walked the rest of the way to the door and rang the bell. A few moments later, a girl about his age with short brown hair opened the door. "Ah, Kudou-kun. You're right on time."

Conan stepped in the door, ignoring the girl slightly as she closed it behind him, to take off his shoes and put on a pair of slippers. "Nice to see you too, Haibara." There was only a dry tone to his voice as he greeted her, though the words implied that there had once been sarcasm.

The two walked further into the house, Conan leaving his skateboard by the door as they made their way to a room from which much noise was emanating. Upon entry, they found three children in various positions of relaxation in front of a TV with whatever the newest of Agasa's games was. When the race was over (it was another of his little go-cart games that encouraged much competition between them and was sure to be the newest way for them to hammer Shinichi's natural ineptitude with video games into his head), Mitsuhiko cheered and Genta pouted a bit, Ayumi giggling at their slightly exaggerated reactions to winning or losing the game.

"Looks like you guys've been busy." Conan's comment earned him three startled looks and some exclamations of his name as the true children of the group motioned for him to join them in their fun. Figuring that he could at least keep them from losing horribly and start arguing over one thing or another, Conan complied, and the next several hours were spent with many races and many of Conan's crashes as he flipped the cart or ran into a box or a wall of some sort.

When the others had left, Haibara had retreated into her lab again and left the other not-child to have a few minutes of privacy with the old inventor. "It's tonight."

Agasa, still staring after the children through the window, started slightly and turned to Shinichi. "What? Oh...it is, isn't it. At least, assuming that your little...problem...doesn't affect the process."

Shinichi stared after the children as well, speaking to the professor without looking at him. "I really hope it doesn't...but I still can't help being nervous. Whatever happens, if she isn't my anchor, I'll have to leave her again. And I'll have to do it as Conan."

Agasa stared in sympathy at his neighbor's son, one he had so often considered a nephew. "Shinichi...you have to promise that whatever does happen, whoever your anchor is, you don't give up. Can you do that?"

Shinichi's eyes softened a bit, but he still didn't look away from the edge of the gate where the Shounen Tantei Dan had disappeared. "Sure, Agasa, I'll promise you that."

"No Shinichi." This finally got the boy to look at his 'uncle', "You have to promise yourself, not me."

Shinichi's eyes saddened and softened further before he looked at the ground before his feet and spoke in one of his most serious tones. "I promise."

Agasa nodded. "Good. Now get yourself ready. You're in for a long night, and I don't think this is the best place to have it. Go lock your doors and windows, but don't forget to leave your own open."

"Yeah, yeah. I've heard it all before, remember? Grown up with the procedures drilled into me like etiquette." Shinichi grumbled slightly, revealing just how annoying it had been to learn what he had, even if he knew he would be thankful for it later. "Good night, professor."

"Good night, Shinichi. And happy birthday!" Agasa called after the boy as he grabbed his bag and his skateboard and made his way over to his own, empty, dusty house. It was really going to be a long night.


	2. A World of Difference

**Daisuke: Hey guys! That's right, guess what time it is? Time for the next preview! Sorry it's so late in the day, but I've been caught up in a new game called Eden Eternal. The closed beta ended today about an hour before I'm typing this, and I only barely made the deadline for the reward. I didn't quite make the Alpaca pet (I wanted that one soooooo badly), but I made the best title, so it's all good. Anyway, I got a request for this one from one of my reviewers, so here's my Detective Conan/Soul Eater crossover.**

**The working title is 'A World of Difference', but I might change that in the future; it's kind of in pieces anyway, so I'm not really worried. If it gets enough response, this one is honestly among the easiest for me to pick up. To clarify for the future: this is in Soul Eater's world, and it's as if the Detective Conan world existed at the same time. Neither really knows of the other, but our favorite characters' roles are all still the same, plus being students at Shibusen. This, like the last one, is also a KaiShin, but it's rather darker than most of my others will be.**

**Story Summary: ****KaiShin. Soul Eater world based. Shinichi and Kaito. Weapon and Meister. They traipse through the night, taking down Kishin eggs and flushing out the Black Organization any way they can. Shinichi is a locally famous detective during the day (when he's not at school), and the two of them are great students. However, not until their first mission does anyone find it strange that no one's seen Shinichi's weapon form, not to mention the somehow core-level trust the two have in each other. But when the eyes turn away, Kaito takes on his father's mantle, Shinichi in hand, and draws the attentions of police and criminal alike, all the while battling with the black blood that was placed in Shinichi...during a time that only the two knew about. Conan seems such a distant memory now...**

* * *

><p>A shadow sped through the alleys of the city, darting from place to place as he chased after his prey. The sweet smell of the soon-to-be victim's soul filled the shadow's nose, enticing it and causing it to run just a little bit faster in order to catch up with the small woman it had picked to be its prey that night. The shadow leapt from window to window between the buildings that created the alley, spying the victim below it and getting just overhead before dropping to the ground, piercing the woman in a swift move. The shadow disregarded the body as the soul began to float before it, small and sweet as it slid down the shadow's throat, both satisfying and furthering the hunger deep within its stomach.<p>

The shadow paid no mind to the two figures that watched from overhead, one perched precariously on the edge of the building while the other sat, legs hanging over the ledge of the roof. The standing figure seemed to be wearing a cape and top hat, silhouetted against the full, insanely grinning moon above. "Hmmm~~ I wonder, dear Shin-chan, do we dare go against the great Snake-sama?" The standing figure's toothy grin practically glowed in the dark, expressing complete glee at getting a chance to take the creature below from the world.

The sitting figure grinned identically, "Why yes, Kaito, I do believe we dare." 'Shin-chan' glowed briefly, forming an oddly shaped gun and spinning in the air before being caught by Kaito, cocked back and had the safety pulled off.

The shadow below turned to face the figure above, staring over the barrel of the odd gun at a teenage boy wearing a monocle and a white suit, a matching cape and top hat completing the picture. Snake had hardly a moment to attempt to lunge before the gun went off, shooting an Ace of Spades surrounded by an odd pink aura. The bullet passed cleanly through him and his body disappeared, leaving a crusted, red soul in his place.

Kaito leapt down to it, letting his gun drop for a moment as it glowed and untwisted back into the form of 'Shin-chan', who took the red soul and swallowed it, sighing when the job was done. "One down, 98 to go."

Kaito sent him a saddened glance. "We should go call up Shinigami-sama. He'll want to know the job is done." Shin-chan nodded, following his white-clad companion to the nearest window but grabbed the other boy's shoulder before he could breathe onto the glass. Confused, the white-clad boy looked at his Weapon questioningly, only to get a pointed look at his outfit. "Right. Thanks, Shinichi."

Shinichi just leaned back, hands in his pockets. "No problem." He watched in a slightly detached manner as Kaito pulled one of his quick changes and was then standing there in a t-shirt and jeans, dog tags glinting in the moonlight and bracelets dangling from his wrists as the last of the movement passed. Purple-blue eyes stared into deep blue, grinning like mad as Kaito's wild hair settled as well.

Shinichi just 'hmph'ed and closed his eyes, leaning back against the brick wall on the other side of the alley as Kaito leaned forward again to breathe on the window, writing out the number that would call up their boss/principal/leader. Ripples of light covered the window as it rang, much like a phone, awaiting a response.

A silly skull mask surrounded by a black outfit filled the window, a large white hand coming up in greeting as a silly voice greeted Kaito and Shinichi. "Ooosu~~ Konnichiwa, Kaito-kun, Shinichi-kun. I take it the mission was a success?"

Kaito nodded, grinning cheekily. "Aa. Complete success Shinigami-sama. We were just informing you that Snake is gone before coming home."

Shinigami nodded, "Good to hear. Come home safe~~~!" The window went blank, indicating an end to the call, and Kaito turned to his partner who was lightly dozing as he leaned against the wall, arms crossed over his customary blue suit. Kaito's grin turned mischievous as he snuck forward, hands making groping motions as he approached the unaware boy.

"Don't you dare, Kaito." Or rather, the seemingly unaware boy. Kaito dropped his arms to hang beside him, pouting and complaining about his partner's being 'absolutely no fun' under his breath. Then he straightened, Shinichi following him as they exited the alley and got into Kaito's car, the slightly beat up red 1960s Ford T-Bird sitting calmly next to the sidewalk, pink fuzzy dice bobbing slightly as Kaito adjusted the rear-view mirror. Shinichi made himself comfortable on the red leather of the passenger seat, grateful that the top was up as he drifted off to sleep for the slightly long ride home.

Kaito started up the engine, taking a moment of reverence as it purred to life, and drove off, heading for Shibusen at a leisurely speed.

It had taken Kaito ages of begging to get Shinichi to allow him to get the car, beat up and old as it was. The conversation had gone along the lines of their usual arguments over such things.

"It's junk, Kaito. I am not letting you get this piece of crap so that you can restore it. I'm not going to be caught dead getting driven in this thing."

"But Shiiin-chaaan! I can restore it before we go driving! And besides, it's red, shiny and comes with the dice! Pleeeeease?" Kaito had pulled his strongest puppy eyes out just for this.

Shinichi held his ground for all of ten seconds before caving, turning his head away and sighing as he began a pout that would last the next week. "Fine." Kaito had cheered.

So, keeping to his promise, Kaito had restored the car - including the engine - to nearly full glory before doing any driving, as much as he twitched to drive it the entire time. Now very happy with it, he had allowed Shinichi a month of small demands to make up for the one he'd made before they returned to routine again.

In his reminiscence, Kaito missed his partner falling asleep beside him, but his focus remained on driving anyway, making sure to get them home safely.

* * *

><p>Shinigami-sama stood in front of his mirror in the room of death, frowning slightly at the conversation that had occurred a few minutes before between him and Kuroba Kaito. The boy himself seemed fine, obviously very used to late nights like that, but Shinichi had looked very tired. Shinigami knew that the detective Weapon had had to be brought along on Kaito's night job - the boy had a fierce protective streak for his Meister - and that having a mission the next night was going to take its toll on him, but the boy seemed far too tired for that alone to be the case.<p>

Kaito had told him right off the bat about his personal mission upon entering the school, told Shinigami all about his father and what had happened to him, even about Pandora and the Black Organization that seemed to dog the pair's footsteps. That was why Shinigami sent the two after Snake, knowing that they would not feel even slightly at ease unless they were the ones to take him out. Perhaps that was the reason behind Shinichi's tiredness, the combination of stress over the mission before hand and the relief when it was finished was probably at least a large factor.

Oh well, now was not the time to be thinking about these things. He had a son to prepare for, as Kiddo was due for a meeting soon, and a new set of missions to appoint.

MMM

Kaito smiled at Kiddo as the younger boy walked out of the door to the room of death, "Heya Kiddo! On your way home for the night?"

Kiddo smiled in return, "Why yes I was. Are you two on your way to see father?" He nodded at Shinichi over Kaito's shoulder, earning a sleepy nod in return, before motioning to the door behind him.

"Yeah. Just finished our first Kishin mission. Need to hand in our report before heading home ourselves."

Kiddo nodded ascension. "Okay then. Goodnight, you two. See you in class tomorrow."

"Goodnight, Kiddo!" Kaito waved over his shoulder as Kiddo left. Then the smile dropped and he looked at Shinichi for a moment. "You okay? You're never this sleepy outside of the apartment."

Shinichi snapped his head up, coming out of his light doze. "Yeah, I guess the relief of having Snake gone is just a bit too much, among other things."

Kaito gave Shinichi a knowing look. "You mean like going off when getting called by Megure-keibu to solve murders in the middle of the night? And I thought MY double life was taxing."

Shinichi's head snapped up again, shocked and slightly guilty. "How do you know about that?"

"Please. You know perfectly well that I'm the expert on sneaking out at night between the two of us. Did you really think I wouldn't notice?"

Shinichi was a bit sheepish, agreeing quickly that Kaito could come with him next time so that they could give their report and go to bed.

So they marched their way down the row of guillotines that marked the hallway to the center of the room, finding Shinigami standing in front of the mirror and observing some scene or another, the current main Death Scythe, Spirit, standing off to one side and watching their approach. Kaito cleared his throat to announce their presence, allowing Shinigami-sama to turn around and see them waiting for his words.

"Ah~~ Kaito-kun! How lovely it is to see you again. Perhaps now you would like to report your successes?" The word 'mission' had been left out as a silent question.

"Yes, Shinigami-sama. Now would be the perfect time." Kaito gave his Poker Face grin, awaiting Shinigami-sama's action. The figurehead of Death City put up his hand and motioned Spirit to leave, earning a suspicious and concerned look from the red-haired man but also earning obedience. Now alone, Kaito's grin dropped and Shinichi straightened. "Snake is dead. He won't be bothering us anymore. But I have other news."

Shinigami-sama raised an invisible eyebrow. "Oh~~? And what would this news be, Kaito-kun?"

Kaito's eyes sharpened. "I have a new target."

Shinigami-sama turned serious. "I see. Have you set a date yet? I will need to prepare to excuse you two from class if you're injured."

Kaito nodded. "The police received my note earlier today, and the date is a month from now, the next full moon."

Shinigami-sama nodded, turning back to his mirror. "Good. But for the meantime I have a different mission for you."

Kaito nodded to say he was listening, Shinichi stepping up beside him.

"I want you to keep a closer eye on your classmates for me. There seems to be a rat somewhere in our midst that's involved with the BO, and I want you to find them." Kaito and Shinichi nodded their understanding before exiting upon Shinigami-sama's dismissal, telling Spirit that Shinigami-sama wanted to see him. The two made it home in all of five minutes, collapsing on their beds and catching what sleep they could before the school day started.

* * *

><p>The class's heads snapped to the door collectively as a cloud of smoke erupted from it, fading rapidly to reveal their flamboyant magician classmate and his Weapon. Kaito was holding his arms up in the air in the perfect showman's pose, exclaiming loudly to the classroom, "Ladies and gentlemen!" and thoroughly ignoring the looks he was getting from his friends and his Weapon in favor of the laughs the class was emitting.<p>

Shinichi simply ducked under his Meister's arm, walking over to the crowd of older kids standing to one side who were chatting and sending the occasional glare at Kaito. "Hey, guys."

"Hey Shinichi. You look tired. Did you have a nightmare again last night?" Ran, as usual, was worried about him, but he waved her off, planting on the smile that only Kaito ever found suspicious.

"Nah. Actually had a mission last night, but it was nothing I couldn't handle."

"A mission? But ya were okay on it? I ain't never seen ya train, what made Shinigami-sama think tha two of ya were ready?" Heiji leaned over from his place between his Meister and Kazuha, curious look on his face.

Shinichi scowled slightly, annoyed at his friend's pestering. He and Kaito had had to keep Shinichi's form from their friends because of their night job, knowing that especially Saguru, but all of them really, would know what they were doing and either hate them for it or try to help. They wanted neither reaction, so they kept quiet and Shinigami promised never to assign them missions with anyone else on the condition that they report their information to him and let him in on all their reasons. "We took care of it fine, Hattori, no need to get in my face about my training habits."

Heiji scowled in return, but leaned back, knowing when not to butt in further. Saguru gave a curious glance to his Weapon at this, unused to the brash teen giving in so easily. However, Kaito was by Shinichi's side at just that moment, cutting short any questioning that may have come and wrapping his left arm around the Weapon and his right around his best friend Aoko. "C'mon, guys! What's with the glum attitude? We still have a whole school day ahead of us! Who's up for watching another of Stein-sensei's dissections?"

Saguru's face took on a sour, but slightly smug look at the comment. "Says the one boy who really can't hold his breakfast during said dissections and never looks the teacher in the eye."

Kaito averted his eyes, smile turning nervous but never leaving his face. Shinichi coughed, "Anyway, Kaito's got a point. We do still have a day ahead of us and class is about to start. I'm just glad Black Star isn't extraordinarily early today or we really would have a reason to be solemn. We can continue this conversation later, yeah?"

The group gave a nod and broke off to get to their seats. Class went as usual, Stein not even bringing in a new exotic animal that day, and even Black Star hadn't gotten up after Maka's dictionary made impact on his skull. The older students - transfers, as it were, pulled back a few years since the Japanese branch hadn't gone so deeply into the roles of Meister and Weapon as Death City did - made idle chatter as they were released from the halls of the school until the issue of Kaito and Shinichi's mission came up again.

"So...what exactly was your mission, Shinichi?" Ran asked from behind him, her own Meister glaring slightly at Kaito for not mentioning it already.

Shinichi glanced at Kaito discreetly, asking permission to answer, and then sighed when he got a slight narrowing of eyes. Kaito wanted him to leave as much out as was possible while still deterring their suspicions. That meant making a big deal out of one of the obsolete details. Oh joy.

"It...was okay, I guess." He didn't offer anything more, knowing that their friends' curiosity would boil for a few moments and then get satisfied when he relented the obsolete fact as if it were the biggest secret.

Ran's eyes narrowed in response. "C'mon, I know you better than that Shinichi. If nothing else, you're hiding what your mission was. I wanna know." By the end, she was whining slightly and Shinichi had to ignore Kaito's minimal turning of his head, signifying that the thief was rather annoyed with the girl's attitude towards his Weapon.

"Well...I don't really know what to say."

"Tell us what your objective was." Saguru put in his two cents, making sure to keep his hawk-like eyes on his friend.

Suddenly a little nervous, Shinichi gulped and then began to respond as calmly as he could, making the detail about the mission seem like it was all the information there was. "We had to take out some guy named Snake." He shrugged, "It really wasn't that interesting."

Ran and Aoko, who had been leaning in from behind, straightened in slight disappointment, as if they expected something more exciting than that. Saguru stared for a moment longer, Heiji doing the same, to observe Shinichi's actions. Thankfully for him, Kaito had taken the time to teach him how to emulate the signs of telling the truth with seemingly no effort, it came in handy more than he liked to admit.

The group relaxed after that, resuming their typical after class routine as if the matter had never been addressed. Eventually, they split up and went home, Heiji attempting to dodge Kazuha and keep up with Saguru lest he be left behind, Akako merely watching her Weapon chase after the Osakan detective, Ran chatted with her Meister and tried to keep her away from Kaito as Kaito ran from his childhood friend screaming like a girl. Shinichi simply watched in amusement as the colorful stuffed fish got waved around the room following the bouncing ball of sugar before taking out a book and waiting for the last bits of action to die down before heading out to walk home, Kaito quickly catching up and saying goodbye to their friends.

**Edit: Sorry to everyone who already read this, I'd meant to replace the 'M's with the ruler things, but it was so late when I posted that I forgot -.-' Anyway, thanks to those of you who already read!**


	3. Ghostly Adventures

**Daisuke: Hey, guys. I know I'm a bit late with this one. However, you all know that last Sunday was Father's Day, yes? I spent most of it out with my family. Anyway, that's neither here nor there, and I'm here with two new stories and a new update day! It's rather late again, but it's the thought that counts, right?**

**Anyway, the story today is the only one I will update with the Heiji/Shinichi pairing. Yes, it's not KaiShin. The reason for this is that one, I need to get it over with, and two, I need you guys to realize that I don't _only_ write KaiShin. There will be one other story (put up much later) that has an alternate pairing, but I wanted to get this one out. Another thing about it is that this is one of the favorites of my beta. She hasn't seen too much of the series besides stuff involving Kaito, but to say she got sucked into this one in particular says something, yes? And for those of you wondering the real reason I didn't update on Sunday? Well, between Eden Eternal and my freshly discovered Hetalia obsession (as with any new series that may come my way), I was a bit...distracted. This story's title is 'Ghostly Adventures'.**

**Summary: ****HeiShin. What if, when he fell into the water, Heiji hadn't garnered the strength to swim for long enough to catch sight of the boat? What if he had actually drowned that night? Heiji is lost and confused in a world he didn't believe in, told that he now has a duty to protect mankind, but all he wants is to understand what the hell is going on. Attached to Conan, he follows his shrunken friend through the trials of being dead...and makes a few discoveries about himself in the bargain.**

* * *

><p>The Council gazed down at the once-young detective, some with pity and others with stoicism, as he stood before them, pleading. The tan teenager didn't flinch away, his fluttering wings the only sign of his nervousness, as he continued to make his case.<p>

"Ya've told me more th'n once that ya need 'im alive. If I'm not there ta help 'im, he won't be alive much longer. Besides that, ya always say that soulmates can't be separated for long, don'tcha?" He kept his eyes even with the blue eyes of Peter, seated in the high stool directly before him.

There was some murmuring among the other councilmen, the statement ringing true among them as they discussed what to do about all this. Finally, Peter called their attention back to him, knocking his gavel against the podium, "Order! We will adjourn for discussion at this time, thank you young man, your testimony has been heard and a decision will be made. If you could remain in your place until we return, your judgment will be swift." Without waiting for a response, the decorated judge stood with the entire Council and filed out the back door to the meeting room where his fate would be decided.

Heiji tugged at his white robe, rather uncomfortable and shedding a few of his feathers in his nervous state - even some of the light brown ones that hadn't yet begun to fall. He hoped with all his might that they would allow him to return to his love's side, but his hopes were low.

The Osakan didn't know how long he'd been standing there when the door opened once again, but he had a feeling that it didn't matter. After all, time in the afterlife had little meaning, and sometimes it stood completely still.

When the Council had returned to their seats, Heiji dropped all his fidgeting and focused entirely on the Archangel before him. Peter looked at each of the councilmen in turn, receiving a nod from each as his eyes passed over them, before making eye-contact with the subject of the hearing. "Hattori Heiji."

Heiji stood straight at being addressed, hope filling his eyes. "Yes, sir?"

Peter didn't acknowledge the response, simply continuing to talk as if he hadn't stopped. "It has been decided that your request will be granted," the tan teenager's eyes lit up and a smile started to spread, "with a few conditions." Heiji's face drooped a little, but not completely.

"I understand. And these conditions would be...?" Heiji kept the dread out of his voice as best he could, but even Peter could tell he was scared.

"The conditions are..."

* * *

><p>All around him was darkness, nothing but the deep blue surrounded him as his strength finally gave in to the torrents all around him, allowing him to sink into the depths of the great ocean. Floating slowly downwards, Heiji barely saw the movement of water above him as a boat sped by in the direction the cruise ship had been going and all that the genius detective's mind could think of was whether or not Conan noticed his absence.<p>

Somehow he doubted it. The darkness pressed in a little closer and the Osakan could tell that he was going to lose consciousness soon, sure that he was going to drown. His last regret was that he wouldn't get to tell Conan goodbye before his eyes slid shut and the last bit of air bubbled out of his mouth toward the surface.

Heiji gasped in a large amount of air as he came to, eyes snapping open and wild as he took a quick stock of his surroundings. He seemed to be in a strange white room, surrounded by nothing but blankness except for a single, windowless door without a knob. Confused beyond all reason and feeling far more light than he thought was healthy, the Osakan curled into the corner and waited for someone to come get him.

Time passed strangely in the little room, sometimes seeming to be too fast and other times too slow before someone finally opened the damn door. Standing in said doorway was a tall man with the longest hair that Heiji had ever seen.

The man was dressed in what looked to be a long white robe that made his nearly black hair look even darker and his pale skin look more porcelain-like. The man's deep brown eyes gazed boredly into the room at Heiji, who just then noticed that he was wearing a set of long white pants and a white t-shirt...and his omamori was missing. Heiji leapt up in shock at the revelation, shouting out and searching his person in every way he could without stripping bare before the stranger in the doorway.

In his panic, he didn't hear the man calling to him until his voiced was raised to an extremely unhealthy level. "OI!"

Heiji whipped around, his wide green eyes focusing on the man's annoyed face immediately. It took a few minutes, but the detective managed to calm himself down reasonably quickly. "S-sumen ne. I seem ta have lost someth'n important ta me. I guess I kinda panicked there." He rubbed his neck self-consciously at the man's scrutiny before lowering his hand again, nervous that he simply got a blank stare.

"Look kid, the Council wants you in their chambers in five minutes and I don't have the time to babysit you before I have to go to training, so get your hiney out of there." The man rolled his eyes and pulled out to what looked to be a hallway, allowing the door to slowly close behind him.

Heiji immediately moved to hold it open, stepping out behind the white-clad man and looking quickly back to the door, finding that the only difference on this side was the knob and the bronze number 42 that stood proudly at eye-level. When the teen realized that the other man had nearly left him behind, Heiji rushed off after him in order to catch up.

No conversation was made as the two walked down what seemed to be a nearly endless hallway, all the doors identical but for the numbers screwed upon them like those on houses or apartments before finally the long-haired man opened a door seemingly in the middle of the mess that simply said 'CR' instead of being labeled with a number.

The detective continued to follow the pale man into the room, looking around in awe when he saw, instead of a blank set of walls like his own containment room, what looked to be a grand courtroom with a large podium directly in front of him. Whatever seats there were, however, were completely full...mostly with men who were somewhere between their twenties and eighties in fancy looking white robes with various small pieces of color on their shoulders that seemed to indicate a ranking of some kind and folded white wings with speckles of different colors spread throughout that looked to depend entirely on the person themselves. Sitting in a large chair behind the podium was a blond man with piercing ice blue eyes, shoulder markings of all shades of blue, and single gold feathers spread throughout his white wings. Like Heiji's prison room, however, all of the furniture and walls were a simple white, even the gavel that sat on the tall podium and the railed stand that sat proudly in the middle of the room, obviously a place for the trial's focus to stand before this grand jury.

It took the detective a moment longer than it should have to realize that the pale man that lead him here was gone and he was stepping up to the stand to - apparently - make some sort of case for himself to these men. Stopping the automatic movement just before he stepped up, the Hattori heir hesitated, unsure of his resolution for a moment.

"Do not be afraid, Hattori Heiji. We of the Council are here to decide your direction, not your fate. You decide your own fate with every action of your own, and we have only the ability to apply consequences whispered to us by the real ruling Powers." The man behind the podium had at once a kind and stern voice, and it resonated deeply within the tan teenager, who found himself believing every word of a person for the first time in his life...or whatever this was...and stepping forward onto the stand at last.

The blond man before him smiled kindly at the still-nervous teen as he looked down at him, "So that we are on a bit more even ground, young man, my name is Peter. Though I come from a time long before last names, I have been given the name 'Gatekeeper' by many who pass through."

Heiji's eyes widened at the realization. "Ya're th' one they call Saint Peter in th' Christian Bible!"

Peter chuckled, but not unkindly. "That is true, but we're not here to talk Earthly religion. While they have some things right in many of them, none of them are truly completely correct. At any rate, right now we are here to give you a choice. A choice between staying here and training, learning to use the powers that your death has awakened, or returning to Earth as a wandering spirit, free to learn at your own pace, but free to making the mistakes without a guiding hand to teach you. The choice is yours, and yours alone, but know this. Whatever you decide, it cannot be taken back. Should you decide to stay here, you will remain here for the many years it will take for you to master your powers...and probably not finish that training before even the youngest children you know have died of old age. However, should you decide to return as a wandering spirit and walk among the living, you will not get any help with your powers from us."

Heiji frowned at the information, attempting to process what was going too fast even for his own genius brain, before something occurred to him. "If I return...no one'll see me. I won't be able to communicate with any of 'em. Not even Kudo..." Just as the thoughts started to circle themselves in his head, the Council watching passively, something happened that shocked even the old men. From somewhere in the floor, a gold thread shone suddenly in the nonexistent light, connected to Heiji's heart and wrapped around him repeatedly in a protective embrace.

Just then, Heiji heard a voice that had a dual quality to it, as if two people were speaking in tandem, two very familiar people...or rather, one very familiar person whose voice didn't match his normal one. "HEIJI! HEY! HEIJI!"

"Kudo..." Heiji was shocked beyond belief. The memories of what surrounded his death swirled back into his head in a big rush and he realized what had just happened. "He's looking for me."

The Council looked on in awe at this boy before them. That thread was a very rare kind of bond. One that they hadn't seen appear to stretch between the living and the dead for many years.

Heiji had fallen to his knees in the meantime, looking very much like the caught culprits in his own cases after they realized just what they'd done. His green orbs were shaking just slightly as the implications of leaving the boy alone washed over him, the Organization, hell, even just the boy's sanity would fall apart without a stabilizing factor who knew the whole story and could be a good friend. Never mind the being a ghost part, he'd find some way to communicate, but he needed to be there. For his sake. "I'm sorry." Heiji's hair shadowed his eyes as well as Conan's glasses did when hiding any of his expressions, his own Poker Face being used for the first time. "I truly am sorry...but I can't leave that world behind just yet. There's too much I need to do there. Too little I can do without the people who are already there."

Peter nodded, his face solemn as he took in the boy's decision. "Very well, then. You will be returned to Earth, tied to the one who can help you best. They will be your tether, they will be the anchor that keeps you from dissolving into air. If you should try too hard to change that anchor, I'm afraid you will be lost without one. Goodbye for now. And good luck. I always said that soulmates should never be separated, least of all by death."

The man's last words echoed into the air as Heiji dissolved into light, leaving the room empty of him and the Council staring in still more awe. Finally, one turned to Peter, one decorated in purple and red, and asked, "Could it be true? Could he really be the one Chosen to rewrite the Immortal Path?"

Peter folded his hands together and stared into the space in which the thread had shone. "It could be true. He could really be the one who can take the consequences of breaking that Immortal Path and shattering them. But to what end? To what Path do we travel now?"


	4. Hidden Truths and Broken Masks

**Daisuke: All my notes are in the previous chapter. This chapter's title is 'Hidden Truths and Broken Masks'**

**Summary:****KaiShin HakuHei. Kingdom Hearts/Detective Conan. When Conan's world is destroyed, he gets propelled into a strange new one, full of evil-looking creatures and images of horror. Picked up by Sora and his companions, he begins a new understanding of the world he unknowingly lived in, meeting up with old friends along the way. But when a dark force takes hold of Hattori before he can, tricks get played, minds get made, and an all-out war for the sake of friends and a world almost forgotten in the meantime breaks out among the chaos. Adventurefic.  
><strong>

* * *

><p>Conan felt entirely too cold, wet, and tired. He attempted to open his eyes, feeling mostly numb but quickly deducing that he was lying down on his face. His eyelids and fingers twitched, his face contorting into a frown as he attempted to gather himself together and open his eyes. When he finally got them to peek open, he had to quickly shut them again as the irises contracted from the bright white light before him.<p>

After a few minutes of blinking away tears and bright light, Conan got a good grasp of exactly what he was laying in. He seemed to be at the top of some hill, trees behind him and snow a few feet deep covering the ground. It took some doing, but he managed to get himself up out of the snow and stumbling in the direction of the forest he'd spotted. The cold hadn't been truly felt until he took his first step, causing him to nearly collapse again from shock.

He pressed on, looking for any sign of life until he came across a very strange tree. There seemed to be a door in it, painted to look like a jack o' lantern, that glowed and sparkled as he stared at it. Not really questioning the strangeness much, Conan reached forward and turned the handle, the door swinging open easily to the hollow of the tree. A single autumn leaf seemed to float from it, resting on the air before the shrunken boy before a large gust of wind pulled him in and shut the door behind him.

He seemed to fall forever, descending into darkness as he flipped over and over, before landing quite harshly on his rear in a large pile of fallen leaves. Taking a few moments to recover, Conan took stock of himself and a little of his surroundings, vaguely noting that he'd seem to have gone back a month or so in time to the previous season. When he was sure he was alright, he took a closer look at the forest he had landed in, suppressing a shudder at the very creepy sight. The trees seemed to be something between alive and dead, leaves missing and bark gray but branches shifting and curling like the limbs of trees in oh so many horror stories, though the faces seemed to be absent.

The detective stood, stumbling again as he tried to gain his footing on top of the pile of leaves, slipping slightly before landing on the solid ground and regaining balance, before walking down the path that stretched out before him. He passed what seemed to be a gate, cautiously stepping between the stone walls that looked to separate the path from a couple of cemeteries and a large, curling hill. Then he came to a large metal gate, staring at the rather higher lock than he would have liked as he tried to figure a way to get into what looked to be a town beyond it.

There seemed to be a strange energy in the air, sending odd tingles down his spine for its morose creepiness, but somehow it seemed joyous and elated...ready to burst into song. Finally, Conan simply pushed on the gate, not thinking he would do anything, and one side slowly creaked open, allowing him entrance into the strange town. Conan peeked past the metal gate, peering down into what looked to be the central square with its fountain of green liquid and large guillotine in the center, a ramp and higher ground surrounding it and leading off to various houses and miniature squares.

Deeming his entrance unnoticed, the apparent seven year old walked cautiously in, making sure to keep watch on his surroundings, and approached the fountain. He could smell sulfur from it, and quickly decided against touching it as he deduced that the green liquid was in fact sulfuric acid. Intrigued and extremely creeped out at the fact that enough of the people who lived here liked it enough to keep such a source on hand, the detective took a closer look at the guillotine, getting a little scared when he realized that the blade was real and extremely sharp. He stepped forward again to examine closer when the blade began to drop of its own accord, a whoosh of air pushing him back several feet and making him land on his rear again. Confused, he stared in awe as the blade began to rise again slowly without anyone else close enough to operate it.

The shrunken teen scooted back as quickly as he could, wanting to avoid a possible repeat performance, and bumped into something that he was sure hadn't been there before. Looking up, he almost screamed at the skeleton that seemed to be peering curiously down at him, at this point not beyond running and shrieking like a little girl. As it was, he merely stared at the skeletal figure, watching with ever growing horror as it's head tilted from side to side.

"Are you lost little one?" The skeleton finally asked, it's jaw obviously working, though there was no flesh on its throat to make vibrations with the air. It reached toward him with a very bony hand, and almost had it on his head before his eyes rolled back and everything went dark.

* * *

><p>Jack stared curiously at the little form that lay passed out upon the stone ground before him, confused at the boy's reaction. He didn't seem to fit here, sure, but he had to come from somewhere, and Jack was fairly well known throughout these parts. Confused but ready to help, the skeletal man picked the boy up and carried him into his home, fixing him upon the spare bed that lay in the living room.<p>

The poor kid was obviously exhausted and cold, even somehow a little wet, and Jack had no problem watching over him until he either got better or someone came to claim him. When he was satisfied with how the child was situated, Jack nodded to himself and moved off to continue his experiments, leaving the boy be.

* * *

><p>Conan shot up in the bed, panting wildly and attempting to regain his bearings as he took in the Halloween-oriented decorations that adorned the walls of the room he found himself in. The shrunken detective's eyes flew wildly around the room, taking in every little detail and filing it away in a process that he had long ago found calmed him down in times of panic.<p>

This was the first time that doing so didn't calm him down in the least. In fact, with every strange and impossible fact -_the room's too slanted, the walls can't hold this up, the bed and furniture is all crooked, the spiders are alive but posing as decoration_- his panic rose to immeasurable heights, leaving him backing into the frail-looking crooked wall in absolute terror. Just when he got riled up enough to think about moving, the skeletal figure from before leaned in from the doorway, looking around for a moment before landing it's eye sockets on him.

"Ah~ awake are you? I was beginning to worry. Are you alright, little one?" Again the weird figure spoke, and it took every little bit of Conan's self restraint not to faint again. As it was his face turned nearly ashen in shade and he curled against the wall further.

The skeleton frowned at the response before taking a step in the boy's direction. "Stop..." Conan's voice was weak and soft, even trembling slightly, but he was heard, and that was what counted. The whatever-it-was stopped at the sound, obeying at the completely broken and frightened tone. He may be the Pumpkin King, but he was still a nice guy and he had no intention of scaring this boy. With a quick observation, Conan took easy notice of the figure's intention, relaxing minimally at the idea that this thing didn't want to hurt him.

Taking a small chance, Conan exaggerated the relief and allowed it to show, keeping an eye on the skeleton to see what it would do. When all it did was relax in response, Conan let his head fall to his knees.

Silence reigned for a few moments, Conan attempting to release tension and the skeletal figure simply watching the strange boy's behavior. "I'm Jack," he started, bowing his presentation and causing Conan's eyes to raise from their spot to look, "Jack Skellington. What's your name?"

The boy thought for a moment, debating exactly what to say. It took a few moments, but finally he ground out, "Conan Edogawa. Detective." He watched Jack stare curiously for only a moment more before dropping his head again. "I apologize, but would you mind leaving me be for a while? I seem to be a fair distance from home, and it will take a while for me to adjust."

Jack paused to contemplate for a moment, then nodded in response. "Of course. I'll be upstairs if you need me for anything. Don't be afraid to ask."

Conan merely nodded in response, curling up a little tighter as the stress and depression set in, the reality of the situation pressing in on all sides. Stuck in a strange place, Conan receded in on himself for the next few days - waiting for something to happen - and wasted away to a shadow of himself.

* * *

><p>Sora paused for a moment as the last of the Heartless before him disappeared into the air, catching his breath and taking stalk of his surroundings. Something seemed off, there was something urgent pushing at the back of his mind, but he couldn't quite grasp it. It seemed to pull him back toward the ship, calling him away from the world he was helping. Donald and Goofy gave him confused looks when he seemed to just space out, questioning what was happening.<p>

"Something's...something's calling me. I think there's another world that needs our help right now. Something that can't wait for us to get there." Sora stared into the sky, spacing slightly before a light burst up from the snow, rising above the mountain they were attempting to climb. The light burst outward, making a bit of a strange planet-like shape, rings and all, before shooting a stream of light into the air, creating a very large keyhole. Sora's body moved of its own accord as he unlocked the gate, making elaborate movements with the Keyblade and streaming his own bit of light toward the keyhole to unlock it.

The three friends shared a look before charging into the little cave where they were headed, taking care of the Heartless as soon as possible before heading to the transport pad and returning to the Gummi ship. They had a call to answer.

* * *

><p>Heiji groaned in annoyance at the hard surface beneath him, the rough wood digging into him in all the worst places as he awoke from his nap. Sitting up and rubbing an eye, he went back over what he had thought before shooting to his feet and taking in his surroundings. He seemed to be on the deck of some ship, sitting in port in an old-fashioned English-style town, and he could do little more than stare at the port town as he listened to the gunfire that seemed to crash in the distance.<p>

He had barely any time to think before he saw a battalion of soldiers march by, and he went hurrying after them to see what was up. He barely made it through a few alleys before something knocked him on the head, and he was once again out cold.

* * *

><p>Hakuba shivered as the cold feel of stone registered in his brain. He seemed to be curled up on the floor somewhere, though his achy body refused to let him open his eyes just yet. He slowly took a list of himself, making sure that nothing seemed injured, before checking his mental clock. It seemed to be about mid-morning by his recollection, so he forced his eyes open - only to sit up in shock at his surroundings. He seemed to be at the entrance of a large, french-style castle, and it felt very much like night time.<p>

Just when the blond detective was going to begin to stand up, what sounded like an angry roar of some sort of large creature echoed through the castle he was seated before, and all he could do was stare in fright as a large, hulking creature charged toward him.

* * *

><p>Kaito groaned, but forced himself to his feet. His eyes were closed, but the feel of sand was unmistakable, getting into his clothes and every other possible place on his body. He briefly opened his eyes to see where he was going, only catching a glimpse of an Arabian-style city before the sun's intensity forced him to close his eyes again. With what strength he could muster, he began a trek in the direction of the city, checking every few minutes to be sure he was going in the right direction. He never saw the street boy and monkey that spotted him from the nearest dune, nor did he register their help carrying him when he passed out from dehydration.<p> 


	5. Enter Title Here

**Daisuke: Yeah, so for the people reading this in "In Another Life", this is the original version of the story in chapter 1. It's actually quite different, but it follows a concept within the story that can't be overlapped. I wrote a lot for 'Inky Feathers and Bleached Wings', but it kind of meandered for a while so I returned briefly to this version. There IS an OC in here, but as the regular A/N for the story notes, she's really not important. She's...my agent of chaos I guess you could say. I know this is a bit late, but I took a bit of a fall this weekend/week and I haven't really had a chance to sit and pick the next chapter until now. I hope this makes up for it, and the next chapter will be my recently started (and noted on LJ) DC/Harry Potter crossover.**

**Daisuke: This was inspired partly by the story _Raven, Tantei-kun?_ and partly by my own story somewhere in the dredges of my computer called _Wings of a Jinchuuriki_ in which I required a character with the ability to read futures and travel worlds. This is where the Traveler came from, though this is her first naming, and just to tell you now, she is one of the few OC's I will allow in ANY story, and only when necessary. She will mostly be used in crossovers, but she needed to be here for reasons you will find out later. I'm not sure, but this might be the story in which she has the most involvement, as she very well might show up later on. Anyway, just don't pay TOO much attention to her, she's mostly there for character manipulation that can't be done through words alone. As any writer will tell you, we are mediums more than puppeteers, the characters are the ones pulling the strings really so I needed someone to shove them in the direction I wanted again.**

**The Crow:**

**A symbol most often used for death, especially the Raven. Distinctions are often made in the occult between the Crow and the Raven. There have been two species of crow declared 'endangered' so far.**

**The Raven:**

**A traditional symbol of death, or a bad omen, the Raven's intelligence for problem solving and playfulness is often overlooked. They have been known to use other species in order to solve their problems, such as calling wolves or coyotes to the site of a dead animal in order to get the carcass open and allow them access or dropping a nut they cannot open into traffic and picking up the opened nut when the traffic has stopped. They are also known to steal from others of their species by watching the burial of food and remembering its placement. They have one of the widest ranges of vocalization abilities known in birds.**

**The Dove:**

**A symbol of peace, though often it is forgotten that it is a pigeon. It is often used in magic shows (in Japanese culture) and weddings for entertainment, and mostly because it is the only bird that is both common and completely white.**

**Daisuke: On with the show!**

Enter Title Here

Chapter 1

Kuroba Kaito walked lazily down the streets of downtown Tokyo, ignoring the tourists milling about with the average desk workers, and generally going about his business. He was staking out a few places for future reference, just in case they had any possible heist material anywhere in the future, and was just doing his best to blend in when he heard a voice calling from the sidelines.

Looking all around him for the voice that caught his interest somehow, Kaito spotted a little stand on the side of the street that was being generally avoided by the public as if it were either never there or just giving people a weird 'stay away from this kind of thing' feeling. Intrigued and maybe a little rash about his well-being, Kaito marched his way through the heavily crowded sidewalk to where the stall was, and came to a stop on the side opposite the girl manning it whose voice had caught his attention.

She seemed to be about his age, though short from the fact she was sitting on a stool to be his height and her legs didn't quite reach the halfway point, with long dark brown hair tipped in blue on every other lock of hair flowing around her black sweatshirt. She was dressed in a pair of overly baggy Tripp pants with blue trimmings matching her hair, including a pair of straps hanging like unused suspenders, and a navy blue tee-shirt with writing on it reading 'Engineer's Motto: If it ain't broken, take it apart and fix it.' in English. Her sweatshirt had some white English cursive to match, reading 'Provincetown' in rather elegant script. The girl was singing quietly in a voice that seemed only slightly off-tune, but somehow had a mystical undertone, some sort of American tune, Kaito thought.

The stall had a deck of tarot cards off to one side, gold trimmed backs laced with little colored jewels, and a smaller stack of purple tarot cards on the other side next to a pair of quartz crystals, over a large piece of black felt cloth. Kaito noticed that though the stall was wooden and worn-looking, there weren't any signs on it nor was there any indication it had been there long, like any trash or general dirt collected on any of its sides. "May I help you?" The girl asked in English, and only then did Kaito notice that she had stopped singing some time ago.

Blushing a bit at having been caught staring, Kaito immediately covered the blunder by pulling out one of his spare roses and holding it out to the girl, watching as her blush lit up her green eyes from behind the glasses adorning her face. "Why, young lady, I was just admiring your singing voice." He spoke with his usual charming voice, hoping he could divert her attention from the extra scrutiny with which he had regarded her stall.

She looked at the rose, then up at his face, and though she was blushing spectacularly she kept a blank stare on her features as she scrutinized him in turn. Reaching forward to take the rose and allowing the blush to die down from her face, she spoke back. "So, you're the magician, are you? Just as well. I may have been seeking the detective, but it doesn't matter who comes first, really." The rose was then placed in a small crystal vase that Kaito was certain hadn't been there before, and water was poured in from the girl's water bottle. "You have come here for a reason. And believe me, I know it's going to be hard to convince you of that reason. I'm fully aware of your brushes with the supernatural and your skepticism of it, but at least _you_ won't try to tear it down right in my face."

Kaito was very confused, and for a moment he wanted to simply leave the girl to her odd mutterings, but something instinctual told him to stay and at least listen to her long enough to file her away. "What the hell are you talking about?"

The girl raised her eyes to him again, having gradually began staring at the space above her stall during her speech. "Your brushes with Koizumi Akako, of course, not to mention Pandora. You have had more brushes with supernatural things than most humans, but it's still not enough. You might have enough experience not to just leave or logically tear me apart, but you still don't have enough to truly believe in what I say. This may be a bit of a problem, but knowing your nature as I do, I'm sure you'll adapt with or without my advice. However, as the Traveler, it is still my duty to warn you, in however a roundabout way, of the dangers that lie ahead of you. Your soul has been seeking something for a long time, Kuroba Kaito, and it's about time someone put you on the right path to finding it. The lifetimes it has spent waiting have been enough, haven't they? Right, so if you will please shuffle these, and do any inspections you wish to make to ensure they're not used for slight-of-hand, including allowing me to remove my sweatshirt and making any checks of my stall or other belongings, I would be pleased to give you a basic breakdown of things."

Kaito narrowed his eyes suspiciously, well aware of what she was implying. Being the great magician that he was, and apparently she knew that, he knew almost all the ways to hide what one used for tricks, and that meant that in the very rapid and stealthy sweep he did of her, the cards, the stall, and the surrounding area was the most likely to come up with anything that would mean slight-of-hand was at work. Finding no traces, he sighed in resignation and reached forward for the cards to be shuffled and cut. He did so rather rapidly and precisely, though the cards were a little longer than he was used to, and then he set the cards down on the table in front of the girl.

She leaned forward and moved her hand so that he could see there was nothing she was doing with it, more out of assurance to him than an act that a magician would use, and she picked up the top three cards in such a way that he knew she was not replacing any of them with anything else. She lay them in a neat row on the black felt and moved the deck back to its previous position. She picked up the first one, the one on his left, and flipped it over. A picture of a jester in old, rather gaudy versions of the clothes was balancing on nothing with one foot, a golden ring around the leg he was balancing on and a baton decorated with ribbons and a typical jester face behind that foot. He seemed to be juggling the symbols of the astronomical zodiac and the moon was behind his shoulders. "Ah, the Fool. This represents more than one thing for you, both its traditional representation of decisions bringing journeys and welcome changes, and simply a reference to your alter-ego. Being in the past as it is means that the decision has been made and your journey has begun, the only thing to do about it now is press on until journey's end."

Trying not to be startled at the implications she had made to knowing more than she should, Kaito watched as the girl flipped the middle card. It depicted a golden wheel, upon a strange mechanism, with a stylized sun in its center and yet again the astronomical zodiac around it, surrounded by four glowing red circles. The mechanism seemed to be sitting on clouds and a pair of planets, one orange and the other pink, were floating in the background. "The Wheel of Fortune is a time of great luck, it represents happy and content times but warns you to enjoy them to their fullest, because change is just around the bend. One spin of this wheel, a chance meeting or even just a general change in weather could shift the wheel's position and the change will be upon you. Be weary, this change may seem unwelcome at first, but if you turn it away too much or too soon then you may not get another chance to return things to normal. And once the change has come, you won't be able to go back, so be careful what you wish for."

Finally, she reached for the last card, flipping it in much the same way she had the other two, to reveal a card that even intrigued Kaito's imagination. It depicted a woman wearing nothing but a sheer gown, made of sparkling material that did little more than lightly obscure the details of her body's profile. The material also spread to her lower arms and hands, covering them like gloves, but left her shoulders and back bare as she leapt gracefully above the water. Her back was arched and her head was back, eyes closed beneath a teal face mask that covered everything above her nose and below her sparkling hair. The two emerald pillars behind her were ornate and decorated with golden rings around mechanism-like lights that did hardly more than shine beneath the crescent moon in the background and enforce the image of the light haze coloring the sky more pink and blue in one corner than its nearly black navy that allowed the stars to shine. "The High Priestess is quite an intriguing choice here, I must say. Her presence means that there is some secret that you will uncover in the near future, but that the secret will only allow you to see its surface. You, as the Fool you are, must look more closely at the secret you have overlooked. It is both trying to reveal itself to you out of necessity and trying to hide itself from you out of fear. You must coax it from its hiding place slowly, young Thief. Or you will be left too far into the dark to escape the creatures of the night."

Kaito's concentration on the card was broken when she called him thief, and his head snapped up to see her only to notice she was fading from sight with a secretive smile on her face and mischief in her eyes. Soon after, the stall had also vanished and Kaito was left standing on the street side of the sidewalk, alone, and with no idea whether what just happened was real and what he was supposed to do about it if it was. A piece of paper flew on the wind into the side of his face just then, and Kaito instinctively reached up to pick it off his face to look at it before it blew away.

It was a note, in English, that seemed to be aimed entirely at him. _'If you should ever need my services again, I will either already be there, or you can find me through your ruby friend. Be sure that when you contact me, however, that you really need MY help. -The Traveler'_ Had Kaito not been so good at his Poker Face, he would have fainted on the spot. As it was, he collapsed as soon as he was back inside his house and within sight of his bed, a few hours after he had originally gone out.

* * *

><p>Across town, and a few days later, Conan had been on his way back to the Detective Agency after a long day of hanging out with the Shounen Tantei Dan when he passed the very same stall and the very same girl singing the very same song that she had been when she came across Kaito. Unlike Kaito, however, Conan only stopped to look at her in more than his passing analysis when she called out to him. "Hey, boy! Yes, you." Conan was looking at her as if unsure he was being spoken to.<p>

"Me 'neesan?" He got a nod in return for his question, and deciding that maybe he ought to act more like his apparent age away from visible prying eyes he went up to the booth with his faked childish curiosity. He went on his tiptoes to see the edge of the booth before the girl pulled out a stool similar to hers and allowed him to put it where he pleased and sit on it. The rose was still in its crystal vase on the corner, and Conan thought it had some familiar wrinkle-marks on it but couldn't place from where. "Ne, ne, are you a magician? Like Kaitou Kid?"

The girl laughed, a slightly hysterical note in said laughter for some odd reason. "No, dear boy. I am a fortune teller, one who simply enjoys being the medium for the gods to portray their advice. After all, even Christians admit that their God 'reveals himself in mysterious ways'. And besides, Heisei Holmes-san, when you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth."

Conan's eyes widened to dinner plates at her casual use of his former title. Not knowing what to do with the information, he filed it away and ignored it for the time being. "So, what advice do these gods have to give me that you obviously seek me out?" Conan spoke in his normal voice, the one he used in the company of those who knew who he really was, and wasn't disappointed when the girl's eyes flashed amusement rather than shock.

"Shall we find out? I know your reputation well enough that you will wish to examine me and all the things around me for any sort of tampering, not to mention I'm sure you will later either look up the meanings of each card to be sure I'm not making them up or bring the combination to a local tarot reader to see their opinion on the meaning, maybe even both. I must say now that I object to none of this and if it is easier or required to be so you may be blunt about it and I will not complain."

Conan narrowed his eyes. She seemed to be telling the truth, but just to be sure he proceeded to make a thorough examination of the booth, the cards, his stool, hers, even a quick body search with the help of her stool to reach her arms and torso. Finding nothing, but satisfied there was nothing to find, Conan finally sat back down a full ten minutes later and shuffled the deck as she had asked.

The Traveler, as she had introduced herself somewhere along the line, picked up the first three cards from the deck and lay them out much like she had for Kuroba Kaito. She flipped the first card, and the reading began.

A lady with long dark hair was revealed, a blindfold over her eyes, to be standing before an elegant arch that framed mars above her head, her arms outstretched to either side spreading the white flowing gown she wore to drape below her shoulders all the way past her feet. A light was in each of her hands that spread like thread to a stylized sun near the bottom of the pictures from which a floating set of golden scales emerged, peacefully level in front of the stairs behind which the woman was floating. "Justice, a card representing you in your real form, bringer of balance and truth, able to see that which cannot be seen with little more than your other senses to guide you. A fitting card for such a meitantei as you, hm?"

The middle card was certainly different from that, showing a man in Middle-Age clothing hanging upside down as if suspended, despite the fact that the chains only wound around one foot rather loosely and dangled below the bar decorated with yet another, slightly more ornate, sun. The clouds in the background gave Conan an odd feeling of foreboding. "The Hanging Man, representing a change in viewpoints, a willing suspension of life or a willing self-sacrifice toward some long-term goal or engagement. Beware, Conan, for this card may describe your situation but it does not say whether your ultimate goal as of now is good or bad. Be reminded that even if your goal changes or the immediate action seems better than waiting that you must cool your head and think things through completely and from every angle you can before making a decision."

Finally, the last card was flipped and Conan nearly turned blue from holding his breath too long. The figure on it showed a skull covered in black, wing-like armor standing behind a shield with a horse on it and a flag shaped like a pennant with a single white flower on it, black wisps of smoke floating in the background. "Do not be alarmed, dear Raven. Though you attract death like a magnet this card neither represents nor hints at your ability to do so. The Death card is a card of incoming change, quite a large change, sometime in the future. This change can be of any kind, can even be of a kind you are looking forward to, but it is warning you that it is dangerous to cling to the old way of things. When this change, whatever it is, comes you will have to make a swift decision: take it, or cling to old ways of life and risk loosing the good that comes with the bad. Beware your choice dear Raven, or even magic and murder won't save you."

Conan stared in shock at the cards before him and then at her. "Who are you?"

The girl smiled and instantly Conan was all ears. "I told you. I am the Traveler. I have simply come to deliver the gods' advice. You only have one more parting gift from me and you won't see me unless you need me in the future. I assure you that the way to find me has been left with your future partner. Now, a little bit of this-" The Traveler pulled out a small vial of liquid that Conan had felt beneath her sweatshirt pocket and had deemed unimportant, and handed it to him. "-for when you regain your body. Drink it when you're back to normal and the glamor that has long been put upon your nature will unravel. Should we meet on your journey to gain control over yourself, I would welcome it, but don't expect anything. I'm a very busy Traveler after all."

With that, and ensuring Conan had put the bottle safely away somewhere, she smiled and waved and her body started to fade. "Ta ta, dear Shinichi-kun~." Conan stared at the spot for a few seconds before scrambling off the rapidly disappearing stool. That had been one of the strangest encounters he had ever been a part of. He really needed to get home before anything else managed to drive him insane.


	6. Harry Potter

**Daisuke: Alright, here's the deal. Tonight I am going to post a handful of new fics, starting with the crossover between Detective Conan and Harry Potter. From here on out, the beginnings will only hold a summary, title, and disclaimer. Please read each when you can, and put in reviews for the ones you like or hate. I'll change vote on my profile, up to three choices each, and take it down when I remember to .**

**Title: Untitled**

**Summary: KaiShin. Xover with HP. Kaito and Shinichi have been hired to take on a new job: Muggle Studies Professors at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Now they have to deal with students barely a year younger, and a meddlesome trio that can't seem to stay out of trouble.**

**Disclaimer: I own neither Detective Conan, nor Harry Potter. They belong, respectively, to Aoyama Gosho (along with Magic Kaito), and J. K. Rowling.**

-48691412-

Shinichi had to admit, the creature didn't look like anything he'd ever seen before. From a distance, it seemed to be the skeleton of a long-dead horse, but when the teenage detective approached it, it became clear that while the creature was thin, it still had muscle and skin. It even had wings, and Shinichi had to revise his first thought to be something more along the lines of a cross between a dragon and a horse that hadn't been fed in weeks. He'd just started to circle the creature, ignoring the cart it was attached to, when someone cleared their throat behind him.

Startled out of his reverie, the detective turned on the spot, standing straight as a rod, to face the source of the noise...only to slouch in relief and annoyance. The other figure laughed a bit at the reaction, the grin on their features, so like the detective's, giving a mischievous feeling. "Oh, c'mon, Shin-chan, you can't honestly say that I startled you THAT much. What happened to that hyper-awareness that came with your paranoia?"

The detective grunted a bit in reply, his investigation of the strange creatures resumed even as he spoke. "You know fully well that the paranoia passes right over your presence now. I'm too used to you to notice where you are subconsciously anymore." The figure rolled his eyes.

"Even during the night job?" The figure strolled up to Shinichi, standing beside him and moving with him as the other teen continued to observe the horse-like things.

Shinichi grunted again, "Yes, even during the Kid heists. You're too close to me to set off my alarms anymore, Kaito. I can't help that you startle me now better than you used to."

Kaito laughed again, "Even so, I'm sure your client is going to start getting annoyed if you continue to delay them. We'd better get in the carriage before someone throws a fit."

Shinichi sighed in response, depressed at not being able to finish investigating the creatures before complying, climbing into the old-fashioned English carriage and sitting on the bench, leaving room for Kaito who was just behind him. The door swung closed behind them on its own and they began to move forward, leaving both detective and phantom thief to ponder exactly how they got there...

**~*Flashback*~**

"A client?" Shinichi's voice was incredulous as he spoke to his father over the phone. He shared a quick look with Kaito over his shoulder, used to the thief hanging over his back the way he was to listen in on both ends of the conversation.

_"Yup. Not for any particular case, mind you. He needs a better teacher for one of his positions and, well...you came to mind. You'll at least be much better than the current one."_ Yuusaku almost sounded like he'd be relieved that Shinichi would be there rather than whoever it was he was replacing. _"Something you'll have to keep an open mind about, however...is that these people are somewhat of a different race. They've been isolated from what you and I know of as everyday things, and they have...special talents. They call it magic, but-"_

"Hold it. You don't honestly expect me t-" Shinichi got to interrupt for all of a second before getting cut off himself.

_"Whether or not you believe what it is will have to wait for you to get there. For now, just keep an open mind and draw your own conclusions later. You'll need to get there before any of the students, so you'll have to leave in two days. Kaito-kun will be coming with you, so go sort out what you need to and pack before you're out of time. A couple of tickets will come in the mail with instructions on how to get there. Good luck, and don't forget to send me a letter once you're settled. If you need any help, I'll be sure to send it as soon as possible."_ Yuusaku hung up right after that, not giving Shinichi any real time to protest.

Kaito and Shinichi both merely stared at the phone in shock before the detective replaced it on its cradle, sighing at the insanity of his parents. He might as well get ready, then.

**~*Flashback over*~**

So they'd taken the international train all the way to London, then got on the great red train marked Hogwarts Express (after a small confusion getting to the platform) along with a small host of adults that were presumably other teachers. They'd followed them off the train as well, but Shinichi had gotten so fascinated with the horse-creatures that they were now nearly ten minutes behind the others.

It took a little while, but the carriage eventually pulled up to one of the largest gates that either teen had ever seen. They seemed to be at the front of a large castle, most of it blocked by their view of the very front in that way that only perspective could really achieve. They almost didn't notice the pair awaiting them in front of the gate at the top of the stairs, one male the other female, and both ignored the once-over they received from both adults. The female teacher had graying ginger hair tied up in a tight bun at the top of her head, small rectangular glasses nearly hanging off the end of her nose as if trying to push away, her robes clasped together by a gold and red broach just below her neck, leaving the black material to flow similarly to a dress around her. The male teacher, however, had shoulder-length, greasy-looking black hair and a large hooked nose over which his sharp dark eyes peered, his own robes flowing straight down like a great cloak that would flare out the minute he took a step.

The teens marched up the steps, Kaito giving Shinichi a nudge to be sure he didn't forget himself and go right back into investigation in front of the adults. They were silently led through the small doorway-sized opening in the gate, both thanking Poker Face thoroughly when neither jumped at the loud slamming it made behind them. The halls were rather reminiscent of old Victorian castles, Shinichi noted, but it seemed strangely absent of tapestries in its main hall.

It seemed to be a long and winding road to their destination, and Shinichi had to marvel at the way the subjects of the paintings on the walls of the squarish spiral staircase they took up four floors seemed alive. He almost looked to Kaito to see his reaction, but kept himself from looking at the thief while he knew his expression was so open. He wanted to give a professional look as a first impression, and looking at his partner when his Poker Face was down was the first of many mistakes that could crumble that image in a second.

Finally, they made it to a stone gargoyle standing in front of what looked to be (from the small opening visible over its head) a staircase, and the female teacher stepped forward, speaking of a random piece of candy as if it would do something. To their surprise, it did. The gargoyle moved aside as if by...well, magic, and they were led up the staircase to a wooden door. This time, the male teacher reached up to the knocker...shaped like a bird the detective had never seen before...and knocked three times.

"Enter." The male teacher opened the door and stepped through, and Shinichi was hard pressed for a moment to find an unmoving spot in the entire room. It was filled with glittering gold machines that whirred, spun, floated, and spouted smokes of nearly as many colors as one saw at a Kid heist, and Shinichi wondered if he may have actually found the one room that would keep his partner's undiagnosed ADD under some sort of control. When he refocused on the center, however, he spotted an old wizard seated behind a large wooden desk. The man had long white hair and a matching beard, piercing, twinkling ice blue eyes peering from behind half-moon glasses and robes the color of the sunset and speckled with emerald dove silhouettes.

Shinichi stepped forward, approaching the desk, but paused for a second when he realized he was alone in his approach. The detective turned back, spotting his thief companion still enamored with the many glittering instruments floating around the room, and spoke to him in harsh Japanese, calling the other teen's attention. "Kaito. We need to greet the headmaster. He is, after all, OUR client." The thief immediately turned to his detective, both ignoring the odd looks from the adults behind them, and jogged forward until he was even with Shinichi. The thief grinned sheepishly, scratching the back of his head before they both walked the rest of the way through the room, standing a few feet back from the desk.

The two stood there for a second before bowing respectfully, arms stiffly to their sides, and introduced themselves. "Greetings, sir. My name is Shinichi Kudo, detective, and this is Kaito Kuroba, magician. We were told that you were in need of assistance for one of your teaching positions." Shinichi's accent was thicker than he would have liked, but he was glad that he was at least fluent in the language long before ever entering this particular country. There was a snort and a small sound of protest behind them, but neither raised from their bows until they heard the telltale rustling that indicated their client had returned the formality. The old man was smiling at them in an odd way, as if he knew everything about them.

Kaito rather sincerely hoped he didn't.

"Welcome, Shinichi Kudo and Kaito Kuroba. Indeed, I did call for some aid in that particular area. I take it you haven't yet heard the term 'muggle', have you?" The old man spoke in a warm voice that seemed to promise the love of a grandfather through thick and thin, and the wisdom to back it up.

Shinichi and Kaito glanced at each other in askance, before shaking their heads in unison. Again, a sound of protest rose behind them, but this time the source began speaking as well. It turned out to be the female teacher, "Albus, I must protest. Not only are these two boys extremely young, but they are obviously muggles themselves! No self-respecting wizard has never even heard the term! Foreign or otherwise!"

The old man held up a hand to calm the woman before speaking, "I assure you, Minerva, these boys are wizards. Simply because they never entered school to control their powers doesn't mean they don't have it. It simply went elsewhere in the absence of training. In one's intellect, for instance, or in the observational powers one possesses, or even in the ability to meld perceptions of those around you to not notice you, magic can be found. These boys have been through much in their lives, and the Japanese often try to fit everyone in their neat little boxes with no real regard for individuality. I suspect that they have unknowingly attracted others with the same abilities as well."

Both teens' eyes widened at the information, before Kaito let his expression turn suspicious. "What...exactly...is a muggle?" He nearly winced when he realized his accent was almost as thick as Shinichi's, but he kept his gaze even and on the headmaster.

The old man's ice blue eyes twinkled again, "People without magic. We live among them in secret, abiding by their laws while living under our own, and keeping anything like the Salem Witch Trials from ever happening again."

Shinichi brought his hand up to his chin in thought, connections being made at a rapid pace within his mind. Kaito merely watched, awaiting a response. "But, the only ones I can think of with similar abilities are Hattori and Hakuba. Hattori I can understand, but Hakuba...he lived in England until he transferred into your school, right, Kaito?"

Kaito nodded. "That's true. He still returns occasionally, but he spends most of his time in Japan now. He didn't seem to have any magic talents in particular."

Shinichi nodded at the information, still in deep thought. "So...what kept him away while he was growing up?"

"Do you boys mean Saguru Hakuba?" The male teacher spoke for the first time, startling the boys with his odd drawl more than anything. Shinichi gave confirmation, awaiting clarification. "He was on the list of students invited some seven or eight years ago, but we received a letter of declination from his mother soon after. It seems he's been through the English muggle school system rather than through any kind of magic school."

Kaito's eyebrow twitched at the news. "Why that conniving, scheming, controlling..." His rant went on for several minutes in Japanese, understood only by Shinichi and partly by the headmaster. Shinichi understood. It was, after all, Hakuba's mother that was the root of the uptight attitude and secluded sense of emotion that Kaito had practically had to beat out of the blond detective during the year and a half that they had known each other. Shinichi merely scowled, his expression getting worse with every insult the thief threw at the woman that neither had met.

Eventually, however, Shinichi had to interfere. "Kaito." His voice was harsher and far more stern than it had been when he had asked the thief to walk forward, but between that and the mere mention of his name and no other words, the magician clenched his jaw shut in prevention. The silence that followed was strongly awkward, but Shinichi seemed not to notice. He then turned back to the headmaster, expression steady as he stared down the figure of power. "I would like details of the teaching position, some books on the basics of the Wizarding World, and, of course, the course curriculum of the previous teacher during their time in the position. Preferably as soon as possible, if you don't mind."

Dumbledore simply smirked in response, nodding before gesturing to the male teacher standing behind them. "Professor Snape here will escort you to your classroom and adjoining chambers and I will work on getting all of that together when you are ready. The position you are to take is Muggle Studies, or the study of non-magic humans by wizards." Shinichi and Kaito's faces lit with understanding at the last statement. "I see you realize why I called you in for this position. Your father described your circumstances to me when we last spoke, and recommended the both of you for the position...though I have the strong feeling it was less because both of you need to fill the position and more because you should not be separated."

The teens' faces colored only a bit more than usual before an emotionless gate seemed to slam over their features in response, keeping the professional look about them as much as possible. The headmaster merely smiled at the reaction before continuing, "At any rate, you will be teaching students from third year up through seventh. In other words, students of ages thirteen through seventeen. Now, I realize that the both of you are only a year older than your oldest students, but I count on you to command the respect of them yourself. Rewrite the curriculum as you see fit, and please hand it in to me for review within the week. You have half a month to get settled before the students arrive, so at least one of you ought to familiarize yourself with the castle as best you can, hm?"

With one last twinkle in his eye and a smile, the old man dismissed them, allowing them to follow Snape out the door and the female teacher to stay behind to finish voicing her protests in private. They went down the stairs and past the gargoyle, back down the hall to the staircase and back down two flights of stairs to what Shinichi figured was the third floor before heading down another hallway to a relatively nondescript door which Snape opened to a rather plain-looking classroom. He turned on his heel to face the two teens, his robes swirling about his feet, and drawled at them, "This will be your home for the remainder of the year. The classroom will adjust to fit your needs as you see fit and any changes you wish to be made, to an extent, will be applied the moment the room is empty and away from the line of sight of any who remain around it. Don't be startled if your chambers and office do the same."

Ignoring the slightly rehearsed quality to the words, Shinichi nodded in understanding before watching the other professor march off back toward the stairwell. He waited for the man to be completely out of sight before turning back to his partner, "We might as well explore the classroom and change everything around to suit our tastes. Once we've gotten all that done, you can go exploring like I'm sure you're itching to and I can get to work on that curriculum."

-48691412-

**Daisuke: DON'T KILL ME!**


	7. Hetalia

**Title: Untitled**

**Summary: Hetalia Crossover. Shinichi comes across a strange man that seems...too familiar to him. He learns who the man is all too slowly to his liking, but the meeting ends up being the key to the downfall of the Black Organization that the detective was waiting for.**

**Disclaimer: Don't own.**

**Warning: This is the Prologue. Thus, the events will not immediately make sense and won't correlate directly with the beginning of the story.**

The chatter had reached its usual high levels for the meeting, conversations popping up among the countries in old, familiar arguments that were more often used to bring in the nostalgia than to actually upset. Japan was running about, flustered, trying to break things up as the meeting's host, and Germany had just began to get out of his seat to start his usual yelling rant to shut up all the other nations when there was a great bang.

Silence overtook the entire room as the nations of the world turned their heads to the door, which had just been slammed shut by the figure pressed against the inside of it, staring back at the congregation in shock. The figure was dressed in a white suit, cape, and top hat, his dark blue shirt and red tie only blending with the blue ribbon wrapped around the hat, and the charm on his monocle dangling wildly from the sudden change in motion. There were several beats of silence before Japan stepped forward, a bit shaky at the appearance of the man, "K-Kaitou Kid-san?"

The man focused his gaze on his country, "Hai?" Kid's voice was high, as if worried about something.

"Wh-what are you doing here?" Japan was moving his eyes between the thief and the door, as if waiting for something in particular.

Kid laughed nervously before responding in rapidfire Japanese that went over the heads of most of the countries in the room, and too quickly for the rest besides Japan himself. The country seemed to relax, though, so the rest of the nations began to relax into their typical poses, falling into their seats. Kid didn't relax at all, though, stiffly listening to the other side of the door as if awaiting a tell-tale sound of some sort. Kiku, knowing what the man was waiting for, stepped forward and put his hand on the thief's shoulder. "They're not coming. This room is off limits to just about everyone besides the others in this room. You needn't worry about the Inspector finding you here."

Kid glanced sideways at his country (not that he knew that), before finally relaxing. He smiled back, then bowed, one hand against his heart as if in salute, speaking again in Japanese too fast for most of the others to catch. When he straightened again, he began to become nervous at all of the confused looks he was getting, turning to the only one who seemed to understand his actions with a quick question.

Kiku smiled gently back, "I'm afraid I'm the only one who can understand you, Kid-san. The others don't speak Japanese. They understand me because of, well...special circumstances. If you wouldn't mind taking one of these?" The nation dug through his pockets before producing one of the translators that were reserved for their bosses, something only available during their meetings.

America spoke up just before the object changed hands, "Japan, are you sure that we can trust him with that?" His face was uncharacteristically nervous.

Kid's hand froze and his gaze moved over to the blond man before speaking in accented English that made the English-speaking countries, and those who knew the language anyway, gasp in surprise. "I mean you no harm, sir. I'm merely in a spot of trouble and any help I can get would be very welcome. If I can speak to all of you at once, it will go much faster in finding out whether or not you are trustworthy and visa-versa, yes?" He finished picking up the piece of technology when he was not met with an argument and clipped it to his ear.

Getting his chance, France was the first to speak up to the thief. "You are Phantom Thief Kid, are you not?" When Kid nodded, he continued. "Then I must extend you my thanks. The Louvre would not be as secure as it is today were it not for you and your...escapades. And with your help, my people's love of performance was rekindled in full."

Kid was a bit confused, "I'm sorry, sir...but who are you?"

Realizing his mistake, the man stood and gave a flourishing bow. "My apologies. I am France. Nice to meet you in person at last." He gave a smile that Kid found somewhat familiar, though he was unused to seeing it outside a mirror.

Kid seemed to stare for several moments, in which France began fretting and asking those around him if there were something on his face, before sighing in resignation. "I guess...if it's possible for THAT, then countries as people isn't that far of a stretch, huh?" He turned back to Kiku, "Then that makes you Japan-sama, yes?"

Kiku smiled, "Hai."

Kid's eyes moved over most of the other countries, identifying them partly by the stereotypical looks they all held, though a few left him confused, until he stopped on one who had that strange I'm-innocent-in-all-eyes-but-a-detective's smile on his face. Curious, he looked a little closer at the man's features. Silver hair draped lightly over purple eyes set into a large, pale face, the picture of innocence slightly hidden behind a light pink scarf. The man was wearing a long, white hooded overcoat over a tan suit the red tie peeking from just beneath the scarf. He must have been staring, because the next thing Kid knew, the man was speaking in a high, nasally voice that sounded rather like a child's...somehow. He could hear Russian just beneath the translator's Japanese.

"Ahh, you must be the same Kid-san that helped with the ВОСПОМИНАНИЕ (1) eggs, yes? I'm glad you helped clear that up. I've been trying to tell boss for a while that we really shouldn't have them back." Kid was a bit confused when the word wasn't translated, but quickly realized the man was talking about the Memories Egg incident.

With that in mind, he turned once more to his country, sighing as he spoke one more time. "I guess this means there's no real point in hiding my identity, is there?"

Kiku smiled ruefully back, "No, I suppose not. But maybe you should make your point before finishing that thought, yes?"

Kid looked as if the thought hadn't occurred to him, then turned once more to the table as a whole, stepping to where everyone could see him, besides the man sleeping and facing the other way on the table. He bowed again, "Good evening. I, as many have gathered already, am Phantom Thief Kid. I apologize if what I'm about to say seems rushed, but I have something with which I need assistance." He rose from the bow, "Under circumstances which I will reveal to you shortly, I came upon the knowledge of a gem with what seems to be magical powers. I realize that many of you are skeptical," Kid's eyes landed immediately on France and America, "but whether or not the legend is real is irrelevant in this matter.

"The legend goes, as I've heard, that there is a gem with the power to grant immortality by crying tears on the night when a certain comet passes over us every ten thousand years hidden within another. No one knows how or why it came to be, but the only way to identify it is to hold it up to the full moon's light and see it glow red, revealing the inner gem. Now, before any of you accuse me of going after the gem for immortality, let me inform you of this: there is an Organization that is so deep underground, so buried beneath our own legal system, that none have been able to find a trace of them. This Organization is also after this gem. It's my job to get to it before they do, destroy it, and bring them to the police's attention. If there is anyone with information on them in any way, I would be rather grateful."

There was a moment of shock that spread through the room before chatter broke out again, countries speaking with one another about what it could possibly be. Kiku spared a glance at America, who seemed deep in thought. Then, Alfred stood and spoke back. "And how do we know that your intentions are, in fact, as you say?"

Kid smiled before dropping a smoke bomb, causing several countries to pull out weapons, but Kiku simply glared at them to keep them in place. The man was his citizen, after all. When the smoke cleared, a boy of about seventeen stood there in a high school uniform. He bowed formally before grinning and causing roses to appear on the table before each country and in Kiku's hand. "My name is Kaito Kuroba (2), and I'm after my father's murderers."

Once again, the thief had managed to shock the countries into absolute silence. America's jaw was hanging open before he took the stage back. "So...this Organization...killed your father?"

Kaito never stopped smiling, even as he nodded his assurance. Many of the countries gave him pitying or saddened looks, though Russia never stopped smiling either. "If I am, in fact, speaking with the countries of the world...then maybe you can help me the best. Even if I have to resort to sneaking behind the backs of my favorite critics...if I have the chance to find and destroy the gem that killed my father, however indirectly, then I will take it." The boy's eyes never lost their determination, just as his face never stopped smiling.

This time, it was England who spoke up, concerned over the influence of the gem on this boy, "And what would you do when it was destroyed? Would you stop looking? Stop stealing?"

Kaito was a bit startled, but his mind was made up in about the amount of time it took Shinichi Kudo to sense a person's eyes on him. "No. I would continue the game to lure out those Crows until they're caught."

England's eyes narrowed a bit, "And would you let yourself get more reckless when it was destroyed?"

This time Kaito's surprise was visible long enough for all to catch it, "...No. I have too much waiting for me. Even if it means I'm hated for the rest of my life." The smile returned to Kaito's face with the last statement, more sad than before.

England stared for a few more moments before smiling. America, who was carefully watching the entire encounter, cleared his throat, speaking completely seriously. "Then I think I can lend a hand with this. There is a gem with the description in my country, and I believe you might need my help to get to it anyway. At least it will be easier for you if I helped."

All eyes were on the second youngest country in the room. Kaito's mouth was, for once, the one on the floor. "Wh...where is it?"

Alfred's face gained a look of mirth, "The Smithsonian museum." This caused several groans from the surrounding nations, but America wasn't finished, "The Hope Diamond." This caused the same nations to stare in horror at what was being suggested.

"You can't be serious." England put in.

"Oui, I agree with England. That is one of the most precious gems in the world. You can't seriously believe it might be the one the boy is talking about?"

America didn't respond, instead addressing Kaito, "Tell me, boy. Does this phantom gem have a reputation for misfortune? For leaving destruction and death in its wake?"

Kaito jumped a bit, "Y-yes..."

Many of the nations were now looking in shock between the country and the human as the conversation continued. "The Hope Diamond has a history for similar incidents, and while it has been discovered that light seems to turn it a bit red at the correct angles, no one has attempted to hold it up to any kind of moonlight, much less a full moon. It has been deep within the Smithsonian for so long, I'm not even sure it's seen the sun for several decades." America was now grinning and rubbing his hand in his hair sheepishly.

Kaito merely stared in shock, unbelieving of his luck. Not only had he possibly discovered what he was looking for, but he'd stumbled on what may have been his only way of getting to it.

Very little more discussion occurred before America stepped aside with Japan, making a call to his boss about the situation, and the two nations brought the thief with them to see the gem on the next full moon. Checking it against the moonlight revealed a smaller gem within, glowing crimson, confirming the Hope Diamond to be Pandora. From then on, America took it as a side project to try and figure out how to destroy the inner gem without damaging the outer one, letting Kaito handle it enough to become familiar with it.

A promise was passed between them to let Kaito see the diamond when Pandora was destroyed as long as he kept luring out the Organization until they were caught. And so, the real story sprouted from one seventeen-year-old's accidental stumble into what was supposed to be a forbidden area.

The journey that would sprout from there would lead not only to the downfall of a shadowy Organization, but also to the meeting of three great detectives, a thief, and several countries all unknowingly in search of a destiny that they shared more deeply than they could know.

**KolKolKolKolKolKolKolKol**

(1)"ВОСПОМИНАНИЕ" (Vospominaniya) - Russian for 'memories', for more information, watch movie three of Detective Conan, "The Last Wizard of the Century"

(2)I have used the western way of speaking his name for the purpose of international ease. Kaito is in the presence of a whole lot more western countries than eastern, and this way of saying one's name is more common among them.


	8. A Thousand Words

**Title: A Thousand Words**

**Summary: After an accident leaves Conan without a voice and without a purpose, he's left listless and without motivation. Moving to Ekoda and meeting a certain magician, will he be able to pick his life back up?**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Detective Conan or Magic Kaito.**

_**Great Detective Takes a Great Crash**_

_Medical personnel were scrambling at the scene of a local car crash late last night, pulling the metal apart in order to get to the victims of the accident. Panic rippled through the gathering crowd when the people involved were revealed, one Mouri Kogoro pried from the driver's seat with minor injuries. At the sight of the famous Sleeping Detective, emergency personnel scrambled to pull any remaining people from the vehicle. When they finished breaking everything apart, they found two more, one young woman identified as Mouri-san's daughter, Mouri Ran, and the other identified as Edogawa Conan, a boy of seven living with the father and daughter. Mouri Ran-san was found barely alive, breathing shallowly and covered in blood while Edogawa-kun had severe bruising of the throat. Unfortunately, Ran-san didn't make it to the hospital, and while we were unable to get any comments from the mourning father..._

* * *

><p>Mouri Kogoro had had a few driving accidents in his life, of course. No driver went their whole life without some accident or another, whether they be the cause or not. But no accident he had experienced before was ever as painful as this one. In the span of a few seconds, he lost both his daughter and possibly the boy he considered to be his son. He had no idea what damage had been done to Conan, but he knew that whatever it was, it would leave the boy changed somehow. Even if the only damage ended up being the hole that would be left in Ran's death.<p>

The doctors said that they wouldn't know the extent of the damage to Conan's brain until he awoke, but it looked like his voice box might be permanently damaged. All Kogoro could do for now, though, was wait until the poor boy was awake.

* * *

><p>The first thing Conan became aware of was the incessant beeping that had to mean he was in a hospital. He'd been in one enough times, between his frequent illnesses as a child and potential murder victims whose relatives had hired him, to recognize the sound on a subconscious level. The next thing he became aware of was the smell. It was sterile, full of the scent of rubbing alcohol, but there was another smell there as well - the old musky scent that was carried on any smoker without the direct tang of the present cigarette, covered faintly in the dull scent of old papers and beer. Next was his sense of touch. The scratchy feel of hospital sheets and the pressures of the oxygen mask and the needle from the IV drip gave clues that he was here for himself this time, not for a client. Finally, his eyes creaked open, and he was bombarded with the stark white and pale green that adorned the hospital walls.<p>

Blinking, Conan tried his best to stay awake - he knew that he needed to asses the situation before he let himself heal more or he'd be semiconscious and in the dark for a long time. As he began to tilt his head to one side, the one away from the wall, a deeper color caught his eye. There, in the plastic chair, slumped over and fitfully asleep in the afternoon light, was Mouri Kogoro. Confused, Conan searched the room for the other figure he knew should be there, but came up empty. Determined to find out what had happened, details began being absorbed at an extreme rate as Conan took a closer look at the older detective.

The man was haggard; his clothes were wrinkled like crazy, looking to be a few days overdue for a change, his mustache was uneven and his stubble looked about as old as the clothes. Despite being asleep, Kogoro's eyes had heavy black bags under them, and any gel that had held his hair in place had long since dried up and come off. There seemed to be a few empty food trays lying around, apparently eaten at regular intervals in the room rather than outside. The hypothesis: Kogoro had been waiting here, alone, for a few days without leaving the bedside, for Conan to wake up.

All of this, however, raised one question: where was Ran? If she was alright, and surely she had to be, wouldn't she be here, too? Waiting anxiously for the Mouri family charge to awaken after whatever had happened? Which Conan didn't get into yet, the headache budding in the back of his skull preventing him from trying. If she wasn't well, if she was also in this hospital, then Kogoro would surely have gone to her side as well, right? Not stayed at Conan's side for what looked to be at least three days straight? Ready for a few answers, and maybe some proper food, Conan opened his mouth to wake the sleeping detective, taking a large breath to yell - not loud enough to garner staff attention, but loud enough to wake the man, though that would be a narrow spectrum - and let the words out.

Only to stop in shock and a small amount of creeping horror. The mask on his face would restrict a lot of things, but noise wasn't one of them. Beginning to panic, Conan pulled off the device long enough to take another deep breath and let out another yell. The horror grew larger in his chest, panic setting in to the point that the heart monitor's beeping was nearly in 2/2 time. Some piece of information floated up from the back of his mind, letting him know that he was having a panic attack and what he should be doing is taking slow breaths before he began to hyperventilate, but he couldn't really bring himself to care.

The shrunken detective knew that his singing was terrible, and that many found his comments annoying or unnecessary most of the time, but the fact remained that Conan's voice was an integral part of his detective work. Without it, he wouldn't be able to put on the 'Sleeping Kogoro' show, wouldn't be able to help this desperate but foolish old man who needed enough money to feed three mouths and could only barely bring in enough for himself on his own. Wouldn't be able to help by giving clues to the police and detectives to put together in their own minds.

The heart-rate monitor was now making a noise of warning, informing nearby nurses that the one it was attached to was starting to go into hyperventilation and waking the man who had gotten maybe four hours of sleep in the three days he had been here since his last brief trip home. Kogoro was on Conan in a second, laying the boy down on the pillow, putting the oxygen mask back over his face and rubbing his chest lightly to calm him down. The nurses rushed in behind him, checking machines and doing whatever they could to sedate the damaged boy before he did further damage to himself.

Conan dropped off into a drug-induced sleep, leaving a mourning father awake with even less sleep than before and a million questions hanging in the air. All of which lead back to the same two basic questions: what happened and what are we going to do now?

* * *

><p>The second time Conan came awake, it was without much fanfare. His senses came in all at once, overwhelming him for a few moments before allowing him to settle into the bed a little more. Memories of the previous awakening rushed into him with a tinge of panic, but the shrunken detective kept his wits about him, seeing Kogoro still in the seat next to him. This time, however, the man was awake, and looked to be waiting for the normally bespectacled boy to notice him.<p>

Conan turned to the man and attempted to speak - to ask what happened - but, as the boy had feared, no sound came out. The boy swallowed and placed a hand gently against his throat, wincing at the pain, but not feeling any scars. Again, Kogoro waited for Conan to finish what he was doing before he began to speak.

"I know you're seven, and that the doctors don't think I should tell you much, but I also know you're very bright for your age, so I'm going to give it to you straight. We were in an accident, collided with a drunk driver. Ran didn't survive. You hit something with your throat and now your voice box is damaged beyond repair. You won't be able to speak for the rest of your life." The older detective didn't change his expression in the entire minute it took him to speak, but he kept careful watch over the boy's expressions. "You've been hospitalized for a month."

Conan didn't know how to react at first, staring simply in shock at the haggard man who had been taking care of him for more than a year. Then the first thing to sink in became Ran's death. Conan's world fell out from underneath him at the thought. How long had he been working toward returning as Shinichi? How long had he been chasing down the Organization, dogging their steps? How long had he been fighting to get back to her side? Only for it all to come to this. Dead because of a drunk driver. Dead because they were on their way to a case they wouldn't have received if Conan hadn't existed. Dead because Shinichi had been a foolish brat who followed one suspicious character and forgotten the man had had a partner. Dead because of him.

Conan's hands started to shake before his eyes, guilt and sorrow mixing into anguish as he raised his arms to look at them properly. All his fault. All because he'd been an arrogant, self-assured teenager. He never noticed as his hands began to clutch his head, never noticed as Kogoro wrapped his arms around his fragile body. He didn't even notice as he began to scream his feelings to the world...without a sound leaving his mouth.

* * *

><p>It was a few days before Conan was recovered enough to communicate, to even write what he wanted to say. In that time, several people had been informed that he was awake, but none of them had been allowed to see him besides Kogoro. The loud, obnoxious Kansai accent arguing with other, indecipherable tones revealed that Hattori had been informed and had flown over as soon as he could to come and see him, but Conan wasn't sure whether to be grateful or annoyed at the other teen's presence. He ended up paying it little mind, too focused on the sudden, deep hole that had become his life.<p>

The first words that he wrote had been a shock to Kogoro, and to any that heard of it afterward, leaving the man in absolute shock to the point where he didn't take in the fact that it used kanji that no seven year old should know and his writing was too neat until much later. _'I'm sorry. It's all my fault.'_

"Wh-why would you think it was your fault?" Kogoro had never heard such a sentiment from the strong little boy before him, the boy who had been cool and logical the entire time Kogoro had known him. "It's nobody's fault. No one but that drunk driver's." Conan made no indication that he heard him, made no indication that he could be convinced of anything other than what he wrote.

* * *

><p>After nearly a month in the hospital, Conan was released back into Kogoro's care and allowed visitors. Over the course of the first few hours, however, Conan quickly realized he was going to have a lot of trouble keeping up in a conversation. He had to write everything down to get his point across, and worse, he had to dumb down his writing to seem like an actual seven year-old - which took even longer. Finally, he wrote out a note for Kogoro with a single request.<p>

"You want to learn sign language?" Kogoro was rather incredulous of the idea, but Conan merely nodded and wrote a bit more.

_'If I could get my hands on a few books, maybe even a tutor, I could communicate with people more easily and quickly. You don't have to worry about expense, either. I'll get my parents to pay for it.'_ Conan didn't immediately mention that Kogoro would have to learn it, too, if they wanted to communicate. He'd gone over it with Heiji earlier that day and Heiji agreed that he wanted to take night classes to learn it so they could communicate as well, and even pointed out that either the Professor or Haibara would have to learn as well if he wanted to talk to them without a go-between. Heiji said as long as Conan could cover expenses for them, he'd make sure it became known.

Kogoro gave the boy a thoughtful look, mulling the idea over, when Conan wrote one last note. _'I'll send a letter to my parents and get them to find me a tutor, and you can take night classes or something and they'll pay for it.'_ That settled it for the older detective. If he could communicate with the boy better and didn't have to pay for it, Kogoro would gladly give up a few nights of his week.

He smiled down at Conan over the desk, "Go ahead and write your letter, kid." Conan smiled back and hopped over to their room to get started.

* * *

><p>Conan sighed in annoyance at the commotion that his Osakan counterpart was making in the middle of the Detective Agency, Kogoro out for the moment to take the night classes. He'd been with the tutor for an hour every day for the last few weeks, and was absorbing the new language like a sponge took in water. Each motion was shown to him carefully and slowly, and upon the request of his parents, Conan was learning the closest origin of the motion's connection to its word as they knew. He could spell things out by now if he needed to, but it was still faster to write out what he wanted, as he was doing now.<p>

"Ya can't honestly expect me to accept this. I'm not letting ya let tha secret out like that! Not after we spent such a long time coverin' it! Have ya asked Haibara about it?" Hattori was rather loud about his opinion on the matter of their current argument. Conan had expressed a want to tell his new guardian who he really was.

_You know as well as I do that his business will start to decline when people realize his real prowess. Without my voice, I can't solve anything, and without his undivided attention, he won't even know that I'm helping him by cluing him in. If I can tell him who I am, he'll at least respect my opinion. I can cut a deal with him, let him take the credit and still look into the Black Organization, not to mention have an easier time getting around, myself._

Hattori paused to read, but he still wasn't happy, "Aight, but I wanna be nearby when ya tell 'im. Ain't no sense in leavin' ya alone with him 'till we're sure o' his reaction."

Conan smirked and wrote, knowing Hattori hadn't started his own classes yet, _Deal._

Hattori smirked back, a little sad, "I jus' hope ya know what yer doin', Kudo."

* * *

><p>Conan waited a few more weeks, until Kogoro was at least versed in the most common words, before he pulled the man aside in the office, Hattori just outside the door to listen in, and told him there was something he wanted to say.<p>

"What is it, brat? You know I have to collect the pay from the case last week later today." The man was a bit disgruntled, but his attention was entirely on the little boy that was starting to fidget just a little. This would be the first time since Agasa that he'd flat out tell someone who he was.

He decided to spell it out, to be sure the man he was speaking to would be able to understand everything. _I haven't been...completely honest with you._

Kogoro raised an eyebrow at that, "What do you mean?"

Conan fidgeted a bit more, _I mean...that Conan isn't really my name. I've been lying to you for...a long, long time._

Kogoro's other eyebrow raised, "If you're not Conan, then...who are you? You better not be pulling my leg, brat."

Conan gave Kogoro a sad look, _No joke, old man. I can prove it to you if you need it, afterward, but...can you bear with me? It's the first time I've told someone flat-out since it happened._

Kogoro nodded, focused on the conversation.

_The thing is...I'm not really seven, I'm seventeen. Nearly eighteen. I was foolish, I followed the suspicious man without really thinking about his having a partner. Was lucky I'd survived, really, but if they knew I was alive...so I took on an alias. Two names next to each other on a pair of books on the shelf behind me, and I became Edogawa Conan. You were my best bet to finding those men and returning to normal._

By now, Conan could see the slow realization on Kogoro's face, but the man needed confirmation, "You...what's your name?"

Conan's sad look intensified. _Before I tell you, I have to say one thing: that over the last several weeks, you have been a great father to me. Better than my own was after I turned thirteen._

Kogoro's brow furrowed with a sneaking suspicion sort of knowledge, but he didn't speak.

_My name is Kudo Shinichi._

Conan dropped his hands, waiting for a reaction. Kogoro raised his hand, and the shrunken teen flinched, expecting to be hit - not to be embraced. "You were here all along. You took better care of Ran than I ever could. You never even left, and she knew, some part of her knew, that you were always here. You were always by her side. Oh god, Ran."

Conan could do no more than embrace the man in return as Kogoro burst into tears, clutching this boy - this boy that shared his pain so much more deeply than the old detective could have realized before this moment - like his life depended on it.

It would be a few hours before the two separated, lost to their grief.

Outside the office, Hattori walked away, a short note left just under the gap as he headed for home, reassured that his friend would be taken care of.


	9. Breaking Point

**Title: Breaking Point**

**Summary: [OVA 9 Based]Ten years without a cure, anyone would get fed up eventually. Conan has been following his schoolmates through life as he takes a second round at puberty, and finally he can't take it anymore. Ran has left long before, but surely there's someone who's still there waiting for him? Someone whose opinion matters above all else? Similarly, Kaito is now 27, and has been going out with Aoko for eight years. The problem...she still doesn't know his secret. When the revelation of his other identity drives a wedge between them that can never be removed, where can he turn but his favorite Tantei-kun?**

**Disclaimer: Don't own.**

**Warning: Angst.**

* * *

><p>Ten years had passed since that fateful day at Tropical Land. Ten long, grueling and heartbreaking years, and what did Conan have to show for it? Nothing but a broken girl, and a broken soul. Every day was another thrust of the blade, another strike of the hammer on the nail, and all Conan could do was smile to his peers and hide the pain. The pain that it wasn't Ran who greeted him at the door, but Ayumi, the pain that it wasn't Sonoko prodding him about this or that, but Genta and Mitsuhiko, the pain that the very reason he was like this was standing next to him and could even be called a friend. The pain was there, if anyone cared to look, and perhaps they did, but so often it was written off as sleep deprivation, as mild depression that Conan couldn't bring himself to ever reveal the truth to them.<p>

As he walked into the classroom again, greeted cheerily by Ayumi and dragged over to his desk where Mitsuhiko and Genta were standing, smiling in a friendly way. Haibara was sitting in the desk next to his, as she always had been, reading some book or another about the latest biochemistry something-or-other. Conan complied to his friends, sitting in his seat to allow them to chat with/around/over him for the morning. This morning he wasn't totally in the mood to participate, so he let them talk while he read his most recent mystery book, left alone until Ayumi made a comment about his appearance.

"Conan-kun! You look terrible! What's wrong?" Ayumi was adopting her old worried look habit again, peering at him over her clenched fists, demeanor entirely that of a worried little girl. Genta and Mitsuhiko were also gazing at him in interest, concerned for their friend at Ayumi's questioning.

Conan was a little shocked at the statements and questions, he hadn't been asked about his health like this in years besides when he was out with colds and other miscellaneous illnesses. "Yeah, guys. I'm fine. Just a little tired. I spent a bit too long researching last night, is all."

There were various whines and scoldings at his excuse, the three very used to his habits of staying up late when caught up in something. Conan just smiled at them and nodded at the appropriate times, very used to their chastising speeches by now. The day went on normally, the teacher standing at the front to demand attention for the morning's class and the students straggling or scrambling for their seats to avoid the teacher's wrath. Then the lesson began, and the world began to blur around the edges for Conan's mind, allowing him to focus on nothing at all.

No one ever noticed that the answers he gave during class were just a little bit strangled. It had been too long since anyone had seen through him.

* * *

><p>Kaito didn't know quite how it had started, but for some reason Aoko had been particularly persistent about staying over that week, saying something about not seeming like a real couple when they still lived apart and Kaito still hadn't moved out of his parent's house. So they'd been sleeping in Kaito's room as Aoko had been commuting (barely further than from her own house) to work. At one point or another, they'd had another fight - this time of larger proportions than usual. This time, he'd insulted her cooking at just the wrong time.<p>

Yes, it seemed silly, but it still struck a nerve for her after a stressful day and had somehow declined into a conversation about Kaito's mother, whom had died a few years prior. That had been a kind of last straw for Kaito, and he had said something he never wanted to say and stormed out of the kitchen, slamming the door to his room shut.

Aoko, needing some time to cool off before confronting him about it, had started cleaning as she had taken to doing as a stress reliever. It was as Kaito was finally cooling down that he heard an odd shout that sounded very much like Aoko falling over in surprise. Protective instincts kicking in, he rushed out of the room toward the sound to find...nothing, just a vacuum cleaner standing abandoned next to his father's portrait.

Wait...his dad's portrait? Crap!

Aoko was in the secret room.

He was so fucked.

* * *

><p>Conan could do little in the way of protesting as he was almost literally dragged to the club room for lunch. As per usual, his hand had been kidnapped by Ayumi (her crush on him had died a while ago, but old habits died hard), and the group had migrated to the club room next to the old karate club room. They had all set up their bento and were eating and chattering for a while, Conan getting lost in his own little world, when his thoughts took a rather deeper turn than he had meant them to.<p>

After all, very little could distract him from the date, the date ten years after his life had been torn to shreds. So when the Detective Boys tried to engage him in conversation about old times, it was really only expected that he snapped. And snap he did.

"Dammit! Shut up! I can't take this anymore!" He'd slammed his fist down on the desk, clenching his chopsticks tightly enough to splinter and grinding his teeth as he stared holes into the table. The others looked on in concern, but only Haibara had enough sense of mind to respond.

"Edogawa-kun." There was silence, Conan still staring deranged at the table in front of him, and the other detective boys still just staring. "Edogawa-kun!"

When he didn't snap out of it, Haibara finally snapped a bit herself. "Kudou!"

That got his attention, at last, Conan looked up into the brunette's eyes with a skittish look in his eyes. "I just can't do this anymore! Ten years! Ten mother-fucking years!" Conan-no, Shinichi finally stood, dropping the chopsticks onto the table and walking around his chair before pulling off his glasses and slamming them down on the table too. "I..." he picked up his chair by its back, almost relishing the strength he now had (again) to do so, and raised it in the air. "...REFUSE!" he bellowed as he smashed the chair against the wall, staring at the destruction and heaving in anger.

Haibara, though startled, knew what it was that was needed to stop him before it went too far. "Shinichi!"

Shinichi froze, turning to the chemist very slowly, a blank look in his eyes as the carefully built mask slid back into place. "No, Shiho. Whatever happens, cure or not, I can't do this anymore. Let Them come and kill me, let Ran come and kill me too, let the world know that I've been shrunk ten years and lied to everyone that knew me. I have nothing left to live for, Shiho. Ran moved on long ago, Hattori's nearly forgotten that I really exist, Agasa's forgotten that I was ever real, my parents stopped talking to me five years ago, hell, even you stopped calling me 'Kudou' in private. This has to stop, before I've lost myself as well as the rest of you have lost me. Sometimes I can't even remember that I should only have one name. It needs to stop." By the end of his tirade, tears were falling down his face, though the look in his eyes was still blank, and the eyes of the Shounen Tantei were as large as dinner plates.

"What do you mean by all this Conan-kun?" Ayumi was carefully staring at him, as if one wrong move from him would show him why she had followed in the footsteps of many of their older friends and taken self-defense lessons.

"Have you really been lying to all of us for ten years? Are you really Kudou Shinichi-san?" Mitsuhiko, ever the sharpest of the bunch, was giving him the level stare that was usually directed at suspects, and Shinichi noticed that it had been indeed been perfected as it was finally pointed in his direction.

Genta, for his part, was simply giving his mean, protective stare that usually scared off anyone their own age. Shinichi looked at each of them in turn, gazing at him like they would a suspect - the way he had always taught them to, before bursting into an uncontrollable laughter that was a mix of true mirth, hysteria, and the most emotional pain any of them had ever heard. As he laughed, his body began to break down, causing him to fold forward before dropping on his knees, tears streaming down his cheeks so fast he was almost breathing them back in.

The Shounen Tantei flinched violently at the outburst, each very capable of picking out his emotions after years of his training them to detect the minute expressions of others, the tones of their voices that tended to give away the identity of the culprit. The laughter continued for quite a long time, so it took the teens a minute to realize that he wasn't laughing anymore - he was sobbing. Curled up in the fetal position, Kudou Shinichi was sobbing his heart out to the world like he'd never done before. The arrogant, sharp minded teen was no longer so arrogant, all pretenses and walls stripped away by a stupid mistake, a pill, and a decade of lying to protect the lives of others that couldn't even be considered associated with him anymore.

Ayumi slowly made her way to his side, cradling his head in her lap and encouraging the boys to come and try to comfort him. Haibara looked on, watching as they healed a tiny part of the boy's heart. But it wasn't enough. With nothing left to do, she flipped open her phone and called the only number she ever thought she had to at a time like this. "Ran-san? Yes, it's Ai. Look, can you get over to the school as soon as you can? There's a problem with Edogawa-kun..."

* * *

><p>Kaito hurried over to the painting, pushing it open enough to make sure that Aoko wasn't going to get hit before swinging it open and leaping inside. "Aoko! Are you okay!" He made a quick sweep of the room, searching the clutter for her messy hair or her strong frame. When he found it, he almost scanned right over her, but stopped himself before he had to do a double take. She was standing in the middle of the room, staring blankly at the outfit that was now showing from behind the trick mirrors on one side, looking for all the world like she had been slapped in the face by a close friend.<p>

Slowly, ever so slowly, she turned to look at him, her face as blank as a sheet of paper, and her eyes focused on the reverse side of the painting that lead her in here, the evidence of what it all meant standing quite clearly beside her boyfriend and almost fiancee. "Tell me it's not true."

Kaito was taken aback. This was just the sort of thing he expected her to say, yes, but he always pictured her hitting him with all she had as she said it. He paused to think over his answer for a moment before speaking. "It's true."

Aoko grit her teeth and looked to the floor, clearly holding back tears. "Tell me it's not true."

When her denial was met with silence, she stormed past her childhood friend in tears, rushing from the house as fast as her legs could carry her. Kaito knew where she would go, and what she would do. She was too upset to realize that she would be hurting a friend, but she needed comfort and her father was the closest source left. Kaito stood frozen for a beat before rushing up to the attic, where he'd stashed away some of the more incriminating evidence before then, and grabbed all the empty boxes he could find.

Cleaning out the room may not clear out all the evidence, but he would at least be able to hide his stuff before anyone else got their hands on it. If he was lucky, he could pass off the painting of Kid as something he would have as a fan of the thief. He needed a place to hide, and there was only one place left. He just couldn't bring his stuff with him, or he'd be too obvious.

* * *

><p>When Ran showed up to the school, there were a few concerned and confused stares. She hadn't been there in nearly ten years, moving on with her carrier and avoiding as many painful memories as she could. She moved swiftly down the hallways as she made her way to the club room that had made residence beside her old Karate Club, determination and worry in her eyes. She opened the door with a bit of a flourish, only to pause when the scene she had been summoned to registered in her mind.<p>

Conan was huddled in the corner, surrounded by his friends and apparently rejecting any contact they tried to initiate. She could see his body convulsing occasionally, and soon realized that he was sobbing silently. Her worry spiked and she rushed over to him, shoving the others out of the way, "Conan-kun!"

Shinichi froze. His head snapped upward a heartbeat later to lock eyes with his caretaker and friend, a look of deep horror and hurt radiating from them, before snapping over to Haibara. "You called her? Of all people, you called HER?"

Ran was taken aback, confused at the boy's outburst. She turned to the girl being addressed as well to see that the other was just as taken aback as she."But- but I thought-"

"You thought WRONG." Shinichi cut her off, glaring at her as he stood and straightened. "You thought that bringing the girl I loved, had to lie to for ten years, and had hardly recovered from doing so here was going to help. You thought that at a point where I couldn't hold the lies together anymore the best person to bring was the woman whose life depended on the lies I told. You thought that bringing in another reminder of exactly what happened that night would clear up my breakdown. YOU. THOUGHT. WRONG."

Ran was very confused. What was all this talk of lies and protection? What in the world was going on? Before she could ask these questions, Conan- no, it wasn't Conan- the boy before her bolted toward the window that was still open to let in the cool breeze and leapt out of it, taking off toward the exit of the school grounds and disappearing from their sight.

Shinichi ran and ran, heading for home at the fastest speed he could muster. He did not stop running until he was inside the door of his home and the door had been locked behind him, where he slid to the floor and once more began to cry.

* * *

><p>Kaito had just started to doze off waiting for the owner of the house when the door slammed shut downstairs and a small, strange sound started filling the halls. Curious, the young man started approaching the top of the stairs, concentrating hard on the sound in order to identify it. When he was barely a foot from the rail - still out of view of the source of the sound - he recognized it with a wave of dread. That was the sound of sobbing.<p>

Rushing down on silent feet, he quickly found the owner of the house crouched and tucked against the front door, jerking and shivering as he cried the world away. Reacting quickly, Kaito sat beside the boy that was in all ways his equal and encircled him in his arms, taking in Kid's voice as he whispered nonsense in the detective's ears.

Shinichi didn't seem concerned that Kid was in his house somehow, as all he did to respond was turn into the other's shoulder and cry harder.

It took hours, for all they care it took days, but eventually the tears stopped, and all Shinichi was left with were dry sobs, a headache and a damp crying pillow. The arms around him made him feel more safe and less paranoid than he had been in a very long time. He felt himself get lifted from the floor, staying in a state of lethargy as he was carried all the way to his old room and deposited on the bed, before he drifted into a restless sleep.

Kaito merely watched the boy drift off before turning and moving downstairs, fixing some toast and water for the detective and bringing it back upstairs, placing it on the bedside table before retreating to the library. It was here that he hunkered down to await the boy's awakening, pulling out _A Study in Scarlet_ to pass the time, figuring it to be a good chance to read the book for the first time.


	10. Pandora's Gift

**Title: Pandora's Gift**

**Summary: An idea borrowed somewhat from the wonderful Asuka Kureru's fic "Certain Values of Immortality". A heist finally brings the Pandora into Kaito's hands...and briefly Shinichi's as well. Though unsure at first of what exactly happened, something passed between them through the gem that night, and boy was Shinichi surprised when he found out what it was and where it went. Mpreg. KaiShin. **

**Disclaimer: Don't own.**

_Mukashi mukashi..._

Once upon a time, there was a world of darkness. This world had very little in it, and even less to hold it together.

But one day, a pair of powerful creatures came into being. They looked upon their world, and started to cry out in despair when they realized that it was so dark.

So they created light...they created stars.

For many years they watched their creations glow around them, millions of pinpoints of light that merely floated and burned brightly. Soon, however, one of the lights died in a spectacular burst that drew their attention immediately.

The creatures cried for their fallen creation for many days, until another died in a similar way, then another, and another. It didn't take long for nearly half of their stars to have died off.

But then a miracle happened - a new star was born from the floating dust of the old. So the creatures rejoiced and cried as they watched the stars die and be born, watched as more and more dust filled the air.

It wasn't long before a planet formed in the floating dust. Curious at the development, the creatures leaned in to take a look at the strange object. It seemed to just be a round lump of dust, really, so they left it alone.

More and more of these strange objects appeared, one after another, until one in particular caught the creatures' interest.

It was beautiful. Blue and green and absolutely gorgeous. So they wanted to get a closer look.

However, they themselves could not visit the planet.

So they made little creatures, ones that could live on the planet, to place on it.

For a while the little creatures flourished, until a meteor that happened to enter the area hit the little rock, stirring up its dust and covering the planet for many days.

Sad that they could not see what went on, the creatures had to sit back and wait. And during their wait, they noticed one another.

For many thousands of years they had been near one another, but seeing the interactions of the creatures they had created had opened their eyes to the possibility of creating more.

So they tried to create a child.

It failed, as everything they created either died because it could not survive or was simply floating dust in the area.

Then, one day, the dust on the planet settled once again, and they turned their attention back to the inhabitants...only to realize that they were all dead.

So they started again, taking a small creature from the sparkling blue on the planet and causing them to grow and develop, slowly making its way to the soft green.

When they knew that their new charges were going to survive, they turned their attentions to each other once more, and an idea came to one creature.

They would create an object that would take their essences and put them together. They would make a child. But they would need to nurture it within so that it would survive when it was brought into the world.

So they made the object, and within a few days their child was born, a small version of them, themselves. Together they watched as their little charges and their child grew, evolving and becoming more and more 'civilized' as the charges called it.

Then, one day, one of their children (for they had had many by then) took the object from them, playing with it for quite some time before accidentally dropping it onto the little planet below.

Helpless, the creatures could only watch in vain as the object was fought over by their little charges and then hidden away, stolen and hidden away again. The process repeated for many years before one person finally buried it underground among many other treasures and a security system that not even the most daring of thieves ever tested.

More years passed, the object remaining underground, before the new owner of its resting place decided he wanted to show it off in more places than its current hiding place.

So the object traveled across the world, to a little patch of gray-green that sat on the other side, and was promptly stolen by a small white figure that the creatures had had a close eye on for some time.

For a short time, they were relieved, but then the figure held it up to the light of the little satellite above him, and it turned bright red. Before any of them could get over the shock, however, another hand grasped the object.

The hand of the other figure they had been watching closely, one who had grown for a time before shrinking and growing once more.

* * *

><p>Laughter rang through the air among roaring cheers, the loud 'fwp-fwp' of helicopters, and some of the most colorful curses that the Japanese language had to offer. Upon the ground stood thousands of people, crowded into the streets surrounding one particular skyscraper as police vehicles of all kinds surrounded it. One officer in particular was screaming orders at the others as they tried to close the net on the night's particular criminal.<p>

Inside the building, however, said criminal was having a merry time evading various traps and tripwires, making his way toward the evening's prize. The Hope diamond was on loan to the country's most secure museum from the Smithsonian itself, and this particular thief couldn't pass up the chance to borrow it. Just when he got his hands on it, however, a certain re-sized detective stepped into the light, apparently having waited for his arrival.

"Kaitou Kid." The now twenty-year old spoke, a smirk firmly placed on his lips.

Kid stopped in front of his rival, taking in the appearance once more of the only man that kept up with him on a regular basis...if you didn't count Hakuba, who was out of the country again. "Tantei-kun. How wonderful it is to see you again. But tell me, what was it that brought you to this heist? You always have one reason or another."

They had played this game for a while, exchanging words that seem to have very little meaning in the long run as a way of asking the other's well being. They had needed to use this method ever since the detective's body had been restored, some two years ago, in order to keep track of each other. Especially since the detective was still in hiding.

Kudou Shinichi may have returned in body, leaving Conan in the dust, but he couldn't step back into his old life. Between the year and a half stuck in Elementary school and the Black Organization still on the loose, he had secluded himself to a few of his family vacation homes, finishing High School via internet.

Kid could understand this. He had taken to traveling the country, himself, in his civilian life, as a magician and the apprentice of Kuroba Toichi. This not only followed his dream, but also helped with casing out future heists, as a magician could spend any amount of time setting up for a week's worth of shows and still wander a bit in the mean-time.

But that was neither here nor there. "Tonight...there was little else to do, really."

Kid raised an eyebrow at that. "Is that so? Then I better make this an entertaining one, shan't I?" With that short warning, the smoke hissed out of the capsules that the thief had dropped subtly by his feet, obscuring him and the diamond from view. He darted off toward the stairs, heading to the roof as he always did, so as to check the diamond against the moonlight.

Shinichi heard footsteps in the obscurity and darted off after them, heading for the stairwell. Really, the thief was far too fond of the roof, it would get him caught one day.

When Kid reached the top, he found it blissfully empty. It figured that even with helicopters it would take Nakamori-keibu just a bit too long to figure out he was on the roof, but the thief had little time to think about that. Shinichi was right behind him and he had to check for Pandora before he could give the gem back. Kid gripped the Hope diamond tightly and lifted it so that the moonlight hit it - looking for but not necessarily expecting a reaction.

He got one though - just as the meitantei burst onto the roof, the diamond shone red, beaming brightly under the evening's brightest natural light. Shinichi paused for a moment at the door, confused, but quickly noticed that the thief was not entirely aware of his surroundings, and lunged, grabbing for the large gem that glowed oddly crimson.

There was a brief moment, one that seemed to last forever, that both their hands were on the gem and it was in full view of the moonlight. In that instant, a sensation surged through the both of them, as if something had been taken from them in that brief moment, shoved together, and placed somewhere in the detective.

Then the moment was over, and they were left panting for breath and staring at each other, each with one hand still on the diamond, even though it was now in the shadow of the building and no longer glowing that eerie red color. They stood still a moment before a helicopter finally made its appearance, Nakamori shouting something from it via megaphone about Kid surrendering, and in another brief flash of smoke, the thief was gone. Again.

Shinichi cursed under his breath when he realized that he'd actually left with the gem this time.


	11. Whispers in the Dark

**Title: Whispers in the Dark**

**Summary: ****A song fic that may either be a reeeeally long oneshot or a several-chaptered fic. Based on the song with the same name by Skillet. Conan finds that he comes close to losing himself much more often lately than when he was first shrunk...and slowly begins to realize that the one pulling him back stopped being Ran some time ago. KaiShin.**

**Disclaimer: Don't own.**

_**Despite the lies that you're making**_

_**Your love is mine for the taking**_

_**My love is just waiting**_

_**To turn your tears to roses**_

Kaito stared in resignation at his reflection in the bathroom mirror. _The show must go on._ He pulled and stretched his facial muscles in various directions until he found the expression he was looking for: the signature curving of lips and narrowing of eyes that indicated he was taking his role as Kaitou Kid. Kaito had been preparing for this particular heist for a few weeks now, ever since he'd heard that the jewel was to be displayed in the local museum.

The Mountain of Light was a piece from the British Crown Jewel collection, a large diamond that had been rumored to be part of Shah Jehan's peacock throne. Originally 186 carats, it had been modified to a mere 108.93 carats during the reign of Queen Victoria. It was to be displayed with the a large chunk of the collection for the next two weeks, but Kaito wanted a chance to get it, check it under the moonlight, and still have time to give it back. So he made the night of the heist, as usual, on the night of the full moon.

But as he slipped into the hidden room to change, Kaito couldn't shake the bad feeling in his stomach that something wasn't right. _The show MUST go on._ The teen had been repeating this phrase in his head for the last two hours, trying to calm his nerves, but ended up just making them more and more frayed by the second.

After a few more minutes of this, Kaito decided to ignore it in favor of proceeding as planned. He made his way to the museum with his Kid costume on underneath his current disguise (a local police officer that had started last month) and made his way up to the room where the diamond was being held. Quickly bypassing all the security measures, Kaito was about to completely write off his bad feeling as something wrong with his stomach when he made it to the roof.

It wasn't unusual to find Edogawa Conan on the roof of the building that Kaito was currently taking his prize from, in fact it was a regular occurrence. However, when the young detective made eye contact, Kaito immediately knew why he was having that strange feeling.

Conan may be a detective, but Kaito was a master of his craft, and his craft included masking any true feelings that might hinder the job at hand and detecting similar masks on others, and Conan was only a beginner. The boy was trying to hide his worry about something, and Kaito had a strong feeling that it had something to do with the crows that followed wherever Kid went. Conan was trying his best to look as he usually did when they met on Kid's heists, confident and full of himself, but it was failing in the face of Kid himself.

The little boy was about to speak, had opened his mouth to do so, when gunfire sounded and suddenly the boy's shoulder was bleeding from where the bullet grazed him. Kaito immediately took action, surrounding the detective with his cloak and disappearing with him in a cloud of smoke.

Kaito ran at top speed, dodging people and buildings as he ran all the way to his intended destination. He was panicked, he knew, but he couldn't dwell on reasons or stop long enough to reapply the poker face when the boy was in a body small enough to bleed out in minutes. He also knew the boy was still conscious while he ran, but too startled to object and soon became too weak to struggle he remained within the thief's grasp as he fell unconscious.

Kaito took the both of them to the Kudou mansion, not minding the fact that the shrunken teen would be asking questions about how he knew this was his home. He placed the boy on the couch and applied first aid, wrapping the still bleeding wound in a makeshift tourniquet to keep the boy from dieing of blood loss. It'd been his fault, so he had to take care of it. Quickly disguising himself as Shinichi Kudou to hide suspicion, Kaito called an ambulance.

After they took the boy away, Kaito stowed himself in a corner to change back to his Kid outfit and whisk himself away to the hospital, where he staked out in waiting for Conan's room to visit. He had to be thankful that the shot had only grazed the poor boy, and was infinitely relieved when he was simply bandaged and given a bit of blood before being put in a room by himself.

But something was bothering the thief, and he needed to get his answers tonight. Even if he had to startle the boy into awareness to do it. He leaped into view, taking a quick note of the boy's expression and softening his own.

"Tantei-kun." Conan looked over to the window, where the dazzling sight of Kaitou Kid overtook the image of the moon behind him. Conan smiled ironically at the fact that the thief had come to visit him. "You are hiding something. Tell me what it is that troubles you so much that even your closest friends and allies are not privy to it."

Conan's face briefly showed surprise before the casual calculation that usually made a home there settled back in. "I have nothing to hide, Kid-san. I believe you are mistaken."

Kid examined the shrunken teen for a moment, "Then tell me dear Tantei, why are you crying?"

Conan gasped at the statement, just realizing there were wet streaks upon his cheeks. Kid moved forward and patted the seemingly young boy on the back as he broke down into tears, sobbing on the thief's coat. Kaito simply let him, knowing he had to let out all of his pent-up frustrations or he would crack. When Conan's tears finally dried and the sobbing died down, Kid decided to take his leave. "Some time, Tantei-kun, you must let others know of your plights, or you will break, and there might not be someone there to put you back together again."

Conan was startled by the words, and couldn't let the thief go just yet. "Wait!" Kid turned to look at Conan with one eyebrow raised, "Thank you."

Kid smiled, hiding it behind his flowing cape before his face could be seen, "There is no need to thank me, for without a critic at his best, an artist's show is naught but frivolous doodling. Besides, never before has anyone provided me with so many beautiful roses." The thief then vanished into the night, leaving Conan to wonder at the blanket of pink roses around him.

"The rose of admiration..." Conan smiled, "may the show go on." The boy picked one from the bed and raised it to his nose, taking in the scent as he stared into the full moon.

_**Despite the lies that you're making**_

_**Your love is mine for the taking**_

_**My love is just waiting**_

_**To turn your tears to roses**_

Conan stared idly at the rose that was still within his hand, paying no mind to the nurses as they picked up the others around him and found a vase to keep them in. He wondered what had gotten into him, he had never been so entranced by a flower before, but he couldn't rip his eyes away. He hardly even noticed as his friends entered the room, the other roses now neatly arranged in a beautiful clear glass vase filled with water, and started trying to get his attention.

It was Haibara that finally got it, "What's so interesting about a rose, anyway?" Conan's head snapped up, away from the gift, as he finally came to his senses.

"Oh, hi guys. Sorry, I was thinking, that's all." Conan rubbed the back of his head sheepishly and placed the rose into the vase with the others. "What brings you here? I'm sure there are more fun places to be on a Saturday morning than a hospital."

"Mou, Conan-kun, of course we were all worried about you! What else could we do when our friend is hospitalized?" Ayumi asked in a slightly whiny voice that characterized the truly young.

"Yeah, Conan-kun. We couldn't leave you alone here, not with the horrible food." Genta put in his own two cents, including, as per usual, his comment on food.

Mitsuhiko though, was concentrating more on the rose that had been in his friend's hand. He'd seen that look before, though he didn't understand it, when his dad came home with flowers on specific holidays. His mom would get this happy look when she looked at them and she thought no one was looking, though she seemed distant as well. "Who was the rose from, Conan-kun?"

Conan's head whipped to Mitsuhiko when the question was asked. "Um...a friend. Why do you ask?" Conan had accidentally slipped into his calculating gaze, but had straightened his face as soon as he noticed.

"No reason, it's just the look you had when you were staring at it. You looked like mom does when dad brings her flowers, so I thought it might be from someone special."

Conan looked a little startled at that, confused at why the boy said he looked like that. "Well, I suppose it's because it was a bit of a surprise. The rose has many meanings, depending on its color, and the pink one happens to mean admiration. I never expected it from Kaitou Kid, though..." The last bit was mumbled, but the kids seemed to hear him anyway.

The kids made sounds of awe, "Kaitou Kid gave you those? Sugoi..." Ayumi couldn't help gushing a little at the piece of information.

Conan soon realized what he'd said, and immediately put his finger to his lips, "Shh, don't tell anyone. It's gotta be a secret, okay?" The three Detective Boys looked disappointed, but agreed, and Ai agreed after a moment of silent pleading on Conan's part. Soon after, the kids and Dr. Agasa left and he was left alone for a little while longer. About an hour later, Ran came in and Conan wasted no time in reassuring her that he was fine, and he would be back on his feet in a day or so. He had only injured his arm, after all, and they had already replaced the blood.

So, the next day Conan was released from the hospital and he was on his way home, thinking over the words that the thief had left him. He knew that he needed someone to talk to about all this, and technically he had people. The only problem was that only two were his own age, and of the two only one was easy to talk to about it. If he was ever around. Sure, Heiji was a great friend, but there was only so much that could be talked about over the phone and when he was around, so were the girls, or a case, whichever came first. Ai was technically around his age, but she was such a shut-in and she wasn't exactly good at dealing with people, even when they were her friends.

Conan sighed, this was getting him nowhere fast. He needed time to think, or even just a friend that he could still talk to, as much as he hated to put anyone else in jeopardy for his own selfish needs. He sighed again, then simply picked up his latest detective novel and started to reread it, as much as he hated doing so when he knew the outcome.

It got late relatively quickly while he was distracted with the book, Ran going to bed and Kogoro passing out on his desk next to the TV again before the bespectacled boy was made aware of the hour. This fact was not unusual, as he had always been taken to reading rather deeply - especially when it was a mystery - but the way that it was executed was. The window had been opened, letting in a light breeze from the cool evening air of summer, and there was some fluttering cloth casting shadows in the moonlight that finally caught Conan's attention.

Conan looked up, startled for the third time in the last two days, to see Kaitou Kid crouching in his window, holding his hat in place as he observed the room for other inhabitants. "Good evening, Tantei-kun. I take it you have healed well?"

Conan couldn't speak for a moment, then his voice started to work and he could open his mouth, "I- I suppose. What are you doing here?" though his brain had taken a momentary vacation and refused to return.

Kid merely grinned at the meitantei's shock, answering while pulling out another pink rose from some hidden pocket on his uniform, "Why, I came to see you, of course. Why else would I be within your temporary room at a Detective Agency?"

Conan's brain finally caught up with him then, and his face pulled itself into its customary mask to hide emotions that he considered better left alone in certain presences. "Of course, how silly of me. Thank you much for the roses, but I'm afraid I don't fully understand the advice you were giving me the other night. Care to clue me in?"

Kaito faltered at the change in demeanor only slightly, and none of that faltering showed through to Kid's face. "Why of course, Tantei-kun. I was merely suggesting that you should find someone to whom you can relay those soul-crushing secrets to that is nearby and capable of speaking with you emotionally. You may be fooling those who see you daily, even those who see you only once in a while, but you can never hide any emotions from one who is a master at the poker face. I may look cheerful, but even the great Kaitou Kid has human emotions, in fact I'm not sure when the last time was that I was truly as cheerful as people take me to be."

Conan's eyes began to widen slowly as his mind processed what he had been told, and was about to comment on the last bit of info when his mouth went and ran off on him, "Would you be willing to be that person? I know you watch me more often than just when you have heists, or you wouldn't have shown up as me as many times has you did. If I seem to be too far into my own depths of emotion, would you be willing to be the one that pulled me back out?"

Kid's eyes actually widened a fraction before the poker face took over again, though he wasn't smiling anymore. "Tantei-kun, as much as I appreciate your high opinion of me in this regard, I must insist that you try and tell someone who is already close to you. I can't just pop in every once in a while like this, and I know how much you hate it when I disguise myself as anyone close to you anyhow. No, the best option would be someone like Mouri-san, who's always going to be there."

Conan saddened at the statement, his eyes becoming a little defiant. "Believe me, I would love nothing more than to be able to talk to Ran about this, but I refuse to get her involved. You already know about me, and you do watch, even if you pretend not to."

Kid's eyes softened, "I know this is hard on you, and I know how you feel about Mouri-san's involvement, but I must decline. I am a thief, if not totally by nature, and you are a tantei. We are not to mix together while in our business forms. I can't guarantee, however, that I won't show up in my day clothes one of these days and befriend you, so be on the lookout and you may just be able to pick out the real me. But be warned, I will only reveal myself to you if you are in dire need of me and I have every confidence that I will not be turned in. I'm always on guard, even if it can't be seen."

Conan blinked as Kid gave a little wave before disappearing in a burst of smoke, leaving the boy with his book, his thoughts, and a vase full of pink roses with one lilac rose sticking out slightly in the middle, though its presence went unnoticed by the teen-turned-child that lay upon his futon in shock even as Kogoro finally came stumbling in.


End file.
